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SAMSON (cf. Heb. shemesh, " See also: Bible, the antagonist of the See also: Philistines, reckoned as one of the " See also: judges " of Israel (Judg. xv
.
2o, xvi
.
31); the See also: story itself (Judg. xiii
.
2–xvi
.
31a), however, represents him not as a See also: judge but as a popular See also: hero of vast strength and sarcastic See also: humour
.
He is consecrated from his See also: birth to he a See also: Nazarite or religious devotee (ch. xiii., cf
.
See also: Samuel), and it is possible that this was conceived simply as a vow of revenge, which is the meaning it would have in an Arab story (W
.
R
.
See also: Smith)
.
But he is inspired by no serious religions or patriotic purpose, and becomes the enemy of the Philistines only from
See also: personal motives of revenge, the one passion which is stronger in him than the love of See also: women
.
The stories of his exploits are plainly taken from the mouths of the See also: people and have all the appearance of folk-tales, not unmixed with mythical motives
.
Samson commenced his career by strangling a See also: lion on his way to visit a See also: Philistine woman
.
On his return he found that the carcase, like the See also: skull of Onesilus (See also: Herod. v
.
114), was occupied by a swarm of bees; he took the honey and the incident suggested a riddle
.
The narrative of Samson's See also: marriage and riddle is of See also: peculiar See also: interest as a record of See also: manners; specially noteworthy is the See also: custom of the wife remaining with her parents after marriage.' His next exploit, an See also: act of revenge for the faithlessness of his wife, was to catch 300 foxes and set them loose in the See also: fields with firebrands tied to their tails
.
(Analogous customs, e.g. the See also: Roman Cerealia, are referred to in G
.
F
.
See also: Moore's Commentary, p." 341.) The Philistines retaliated by burning her and her See also: father's See also: household, and Samson in his turn smote them " See also: hip and thigh " and slew a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass .2 The story has apparently been influenced by the existence of a See also: rock, called by reason of its shape, " Ass's Jawbone," from which issued a fountain called En-hakkore, " the spring of the caller " (a name for the See also: partridge)
.
The well-known removal of the See also: gates of Gaza to See also: Hebron, 40 M. distant—" no journey of the See also: Sabbath-See also: day " (See also: Milton, Samson Agonistes)—has been rendered still more marvellous by a later exaggeration (xvi
.
2)
.
Finally the PhiIis= tine See also: Delilah (q.v.) See also: worms out of Samson the secret of his strength, and by shaving his head3 renders him an easy See also: captive
.
He is blinded and put to See also: menial See also: work, and as his hair grows again his invincible strength returns
.
At a festival of See also: Dagon he is led out before the Philistines in the See also: temple, and by pulling down the See also: house upon their heads kills more at his See also: death than in all his See also: life-See also: time
.
Points of similarity between Samson and the Babylonian Gilgamesh, the See also: Egyptian See also: Horus-Ra and Hercules, have been observed by many writers, and it has been inferred that the whole story of Samson is a solar myth
.
His name, and the proximity of Beth-shemesh (" house of the See also: sun ") to his father's home, favour the view that mythical. elements have attached themselves to what may have been originally a legendary figure of the Danites, the tribe whose subsequent fortunes
' In Judg. xiv
.
1-to the narrative has been revised; originally Samson went down alone to Timnath to contract his marriage
.
The metrical riddle and its answer are thus translated by G
.
F
.
Moore (Sacred Books of the Old Testament: Judges):
" Out of the eater came something to eat,
And out of the strong came something sweet."
" If with my See also: heifer ye did not plough,
Ye had not found out my riddle, I'trow."
No doubt the See also: Hebrews, like the See also: Arabs, were fond of enigmas; see 1 See also: Kings x
.
1, and Ency
.
Biblica, s.v
.
" Riddle."
2 The punning See also: couplet of the See also: original is thus rendered by G
.
F
.
Moore: ` with the jawbone of an ass, I assailed my assailants " (more literally " I piled them in heaps," or perhaps " flayed them clean ")
.
3 For the hair as the seat of strength cf
.
J
.
G . Frazer, See also: Golden Bough ,2 iii
.
390 seq
.
In ch. xiii. the consecration of the hair is regarded differently
.
neighbouring See also: town of Cornigliano is a See also: bridge, where See also: Massena signed the capitulation of Genoa
.
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