40 Facts About Samson

Samson was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution of the monarchy.

Biblical account states that Samson was a Nazirite, and that he was given immense strength to aid him against his enemies and allow him to perform superhuman feats, including slaying a lion with his bare hands and massacring an entire army of Philistines using only the jawbone of a donkey.

Samson is betrayed by his lover Delilah, who, sent by the Philistines officials to entice him, orders a servant to cut his hair while he is sleeping and turns him over to his Philistine enemies, who gouge out his eyes and force him to grind grain in a mill at Gaza.

In some Jewish traditions, Samson is believed to have been buried in Zorah in Israel overlooking the Sorek valley.

Samson has been the subject of rabbinic, Christian and Islamic commentary, with some Christians viewing him as a type of Jesus, based on similarities between their lives.

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In due time, their son Samson is born, and he is raised according to the angel's instructions.

Samson falls in love with a Philistine woman from Timnah, whom he decides to marry, ignoring the objections of his parents over the fact that she is not an Israelite.

The first instance of this is seen when Samson is on his way to ask for the Philistine woman's hand in marriage, when he is attacked by a lion.

However, Samson keeps it a secret, not even mentioning the miracle to his parents.

Samson arrives at the Philistine's house and becomes betrothed to her.

On his way, Samson sees that bees have nested in the carcass of the lion and made honey.

Samson eats a handful of the honey and gives some to his parents.

At the urgent and tearful imploring of his bride, Samson gives her the solution, and she passes it on to the thirty groomsmen.

Samson goes out, gathers 300 foxes, and ties them together in pairs by their tails.

The Philistines learn why Samson burned their crops and burn Samson's wife and father-in-law to death in retribution.

Samson's enemies wait at the gate of the city to ambush him, but he tears the gate from its very hinges and frame and carries it to "the hill that is in front of Hebron".

Samson then falls in love with Delilah in the valley of Sorek.

Samson's asks again, and he says that he can be bound if his locks are woven into a weaver's loom.

Samson loses his strength and he is captured by the Philistines, who blind him by gouging out his eyes.

Samson is led into the temple, and he asks his captors to let him lean against the supporting pillars to rest.

Samson prays for strength and God gives him strength to break the pillars, causing the temple to collapse, killing him and the people inside.

Samson was lame in both feet but, when the spirit of God came upon him, he could step with one stride from Zorah to Eshtaol, while the hairs of his head arose and clashed against one another so that they could be heard for a like distance.

Samson was said to be so strong that he could uplift two mountains and rub them together like two clods of earth, yet his superhuman strength, like Goliath's, brought woe upon its possessor.

Samson's eyes were put out because he had "followed them" too often.

Samson's story has garnered commentary from a Christian perspective; the Epistle to the Hebrews praises him for his faith.

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Samson extends his hands spread out to the two columns as to the two beams of the cross.

Samson was born to a barren woman, and Jesus was born of a virgin.

Samson defeated a lion; Jesus defeated Satan, whom the First Epistle of Peter describes as a "roaring lion looking for someone to devour".

Ebenezer Cobham Brewer notes in his A Guide to Scripture History: The Old Testament that Samson was "blinded, insulted [and] enslaved" prior to his death, and that Jesus was "blindfolded, insulted, and treated as a slave" prior to his crucifixion.

These solar theorists pointed out that the legend of Samson is set within the general vicinity of Beth Shemesh, a village whose name means "Temple of the Sun".

An interpretation far more popular among current scholars holds that Samson is a Hebrew variant of the same international Near Eastern folk hero which inspired the earlier Mesopotamian Enkidu and the later Greek Heracles.

Samson strongly resembles Shamgar, another hero mentioned in the Book of Judges, who, in Judges 3:31, is described as having slain 600 Philistines with an ox-goad.

These views are disputed by traditional and conservative biblical scholars who consider Samson to be a literal historical figure and thus reject any connections to mythological heroes.

Samson considers that Samson stories have, in contrast to much of Judges, an "almost total lack of a religious or moral tone".

Rather, the geographical proximity to the area where Samson lived, and the time period of the seal, show that a story was being told at the time of a hero who fought a lion, and that the story eventually found its way into the biblical text and onto the seal.

Samson is portrayed as a hero, whose violent actions are mitigated by the righteous cause in whose name they are enacted.

Samson has been especially honored in Russian artwork because the Russians defeated the Swedes in the Battle of Poltava on the feast day of St Sampson, whose name is homophonous with Samson's.

The lion slain by Samson was interpreted to represent Sweden, as a result of the lion's placement on the Swedish coat of arms.

Samson is the emblem of Lungau, Salzburg and parades in his honor are held annually in ten villages of the Lungau and two villages in the north-west Styria.

Samson is one of the giant figures at the "Ducasse" festivities, which take place at Ath, Belgium.