Samson, A Warrior of Israel

Samson, Shimshon (Hebrew): ?????, Standard ?im?on Tiberian '; meaning "of the sun" ? perhaps proclaiming he was radiant and mighty, or "who Serves God") or Shamshoun ?????' (Arabic) or Samson ?????? (Greek) is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Children of Israel mentioned in the Tanakh (the Hebrew bible), and the Talmud. He is described in the Book of Judges chapters 13 to 16.

The exploits of Samson also appear in Josephuss Antiquities of the Jews, written in the last decade of the 1st Century AD, as well as in works by Pseudo-Philo, written slightly earlier.

Category: Image - :SamsonSimsonStrongman.jpg|thumb|360px|Statue of Samson in Saint Petersburg.

Samson is a Herculean figure, who is granted tremendous strength by God to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats unachievable by ordinary humans: wrestling a lion, slaying an entire army with only a donkey jawbone, and destroying a temple.

He is believed to have been buried in Tel Tzora in Israel overlooking the Sorek valley. There reside two large gravestones of Samson and his father Manoah. Nearby stands Manoach's altar (Judges 13:19-24).The Philistines are upon you, Samson, Ynet It is located between the cities of Zorah and Eshtaol.

Delilah (????? - Dlila, Standard Hebrew meaning "who weakened or uprooted or impoverished" from the root dal meaning "weak or poor")Also: D@lila, Tiberian Hebrew D@lilah; Arabic Dalilah. appears only in the Hebrew bible Book of Judges 16, where she is the "woman in the valley of Sorek" whom Samson loved, and who was his downfall. Her figure, one of several dangerous temptresses in the Hebrew bible, has become emblematic: "Samson loved Delilah, she betrayed him, and, what is worse, she did it for money", Madlyn Kahr begins her study of the Delilah motif in European painting.The survey of the uses made of Delilah in painting, undertaken by Madlyn Kahr, "Delilah" The Art Bulletin 54.3 (September 1972), pp. 282-299, has provided examples for this article.

The Book of Judges (Hebrew: Sefer Shoftim ??? ??????) is a book of the Bible originally written in Hebrew. It appears in the Tanakh and in the Christian Old Testament. Its title refers to its contents; it contains the history of Biblical judges (not to be confused with modern judges), who helped rule and guide the ancient Israelites, and of their times.

As Judges stands today, the last judge it mentions is Samson, and although there are two further stories, the traditional view is that Samson's exploits probably synchronise with the period immediately preceding Eli, who was both high priest and judge. Both academic views and traditional thought hence view the narrative of the judges as ending at Samson, picking up again at 1 Samuel 1:1 to consider Eli, and continuing through to 1 Samuel 7:2. As for the stories at the end of the Book, which are set in the same time period as the judges but discuss people other than the judges, there is much affinity between these and the Book of Ruth, and many people believe Ruth originally belonged amongst them. There were thirteen Biblical Judges.

In the Hebrew Bible, a nazirite or nazarite, (in Hebrew: ????, nazir), refers to a Jew who took the ascetic vow described in . The term "nazirite" comes from the Hebrew word nazir meaning "consecrated" or "separated".Alternatively "crowned", see Abraham ibn Ezra's biblical commentary This vow required the man or woman to:

*Abstain from wine, wine vinegar, grapes, raisins, and according to some — alcoholThe New JPS translation is: "wine and any other intoxicant". and vinegar from alcohol

*Refrain from cutting the hair on one's head

*Avoid corpses and graves, even those of family members, and any structure which contains such

After following these requirements for a designated period of time (which would be specified in the individual's vow, and not to be less than 30 days), the person would immerse in a Mikvah and make three offerings, a lamb as a burnt offering (olah), an ewe as a sin-offering (hatat), and a ram as a peace offering (shelamim), in addition to a basket of unleavened bread, grain offerings and drink offerings, which accompanied the peace offering.

The nazirite is described as being "holy unto the LORD" (), yet at the same time must bring a sin offering. This contradiction has led to divergent approaches to the nazirite in the Talmud, and later authorities.

]]

The Philistines (, plishtim'') (see "other uses" below) were a people who occupied the southern coast of Canaan, their territory being named Philistia in later contexts. Their origin has been debated among scholars. There is not enough information of the original language of the Philistines to relate it securely to any other languages, although it is theorized that immigrant Philistines originated among "sea peoples".

Modern archaeology has also suggested early cultural links with the Mycenean world in Greece.For an important typological study, cf. Dothan 1982

Though the Philistines adopted local Canaanite culture and language before leaving any written texts (and later adopted Aramaic language), an Indo-European origin has been suggested for a handful of known Philistine words that survived as loan words in Hebrew.