Samson (Shimshon in Hebrew) was a legendary warrior whose incredible exploits hint at the weight of Philistine pressure on Israel during much of the early, tribal period of Israel in Canaan (1200-1000). The Book of Judges ranks him with other divinely inspired warriors who delivered the community to establish themselves as its judges.

The Old Testament narrative, only alluding to Samson's "twenty years" activity as a judge, presents a few episodes, principally concerned with the beginning and the end of his activity. Before his birth his parents, peasants of the tribe of Dan at Zorah, near Jerusalem, learned through a theophany (manifestation of a divinity) that he was to be dedicated to the life of a Nazirite; i.e., one set aside for God by a vow to abstain from strong drink, from shaving or cutting the hair, and from contact with a dead body.

Samson possessed extraordinary physical strength, and the moral of his saga relates the disastrous loss of his power to the violation of his Nazirite vow. Credited with remarkable exploits--e.g., the slaying of a lion and moving the gates of Gaza--he first broke his religious promises by feasting with a woman from the neighbouring town of Timnah, who was also a Philistine, one of Israel's mortal enemies. Other remarkable deeds follow; e.g., his decimating the Philistines in a private war. On another occasion he repulsed their assault on him at Gaza, where he had gone to visit a harlot. He finally fell victim to his foes through love of Delilah, a woman of the valley of Sorek, who beguiled him into revealing the secret of his strength: his long Nazirite hair. As he slept, Delilah had his hair cut and betrayed him. He was captured, blinded, and enslaved by the Philistines, but in the end he was granted his revenge; through the return of his old strength, he demolished the great Philistine temple of the god Dagon, at Gaza, destroying his captors and himself (Judg.16:4-30). The Philistine chiefs gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god. They were celebrating the fact that their enemy, Samson, had been delivered into their hands - he who had killed so many of their people.

In high spirits they called for Samson to be brought in for their entertainment. He was fetched from prison, and forced to perform feats of strength to amuse them. After that he was told to stand between the pillars. Samson said to the boy who was leading him, "Take me to where I can lean on the pillars that support the building."

The temple was crowded with men and women. All the leading Philistines were there. There were something like three thousand people on the roof, watching Samson. Samson called out to God: "Lord God, remember me. Give me strength this last time, and let me be avenged at one blow for my two eyes." He put his arms around the two central pillars supporting the building, his right arm around one and his left around the other. He cried out, "Let me die with the Philistines!" And then he leaned forward with all his strength, and the temple fell on the chiefs and on all the people who were in it. He killed more people at his death than he had killed in his life.

His kin came down to get his body, and they buried him in his father's tomb.

With his life revolving around his relations with Philistine women, Samson is depicted in the Book of Judges as being ruled by passion, which, although the cause of his downfall, nevertheless provided the means (in his frenzied force) with which he struggled for the vindication of God. His death in the temple is presented not as suicidal but, according to the general interpretation of biblical scholars, as a return to the original mission (as "judge" and Nazirite) that he had temporarily abandoned.

The cycle of the Samson stories is regarded by most liberal critics, and even by some Jewish interpreters in the Talmudic period (from the 1st century AD), as legendary or epical. More conservative exegetes, while admitting the unlikeliness of the events and the folkloristic style of the text, nevertheless claim to identify a core of historical truth in the saga, albeit embellished by popular imagination and augmented in rabbinical literature. Samson, accordingly, was taken by the editor of Judges as illustrating his general thesis--that, when the Israelites were unfaithful to God, they were oppressed and, when they appealed to him, they were liberated.

I think Samson is interesting because he shows us several different kinds of heroism. First there's the simple heroism of physical strength. Samson, the strongman, who fought and killed a lion bare-handed (a young lion, remarks the Bible modestly). Samson the hero who carried off the gates of the city of Gaza (and the doorposts as well, says the Bible, not so modestly). Samson, who allowed himself to be handed over to his enemies, bound with ropes; but hearing the Philistines howl with joy at his capture, snapping his bonds and picking up the jawbone of an ass to slay a thousand men. (A fresh jawbone, explains the Bible, heavier and less brittle than an old one.)

And at last the Samson who, blinded and tormented, bowed himself with all his might and brought the heathen temple of Dagon crashing down upon himself and his torturers.

But Samson had more ordinary gifts. He was a person of remarkable psychological and spiritual strength. There are twenty lonely years as a resistance leader to prove it. And look how he recovered from the catastrophe of his betrayal, and bore mutilation and vicious degradation without breaking.

There's another side to Samson the hero which is deep and strange, even disturbing. I mean Samson's long agony, his final triumph in the moment of total disaster.

The Samson story has the shape of an age-old tragic myth. It begins with a miraculous child, a man of destiny, who for a time excels in strength and force of will. But eventually his enemies discover a fatal flaw, the secret of that terrible strength. Samson goes down to the very depths of humiliation and suffering. Yet it's there, in utter defeat, that he finds again the power lost through his own folly, and with a last huge effort he wins a great victory for his nation.

John Milton, the old, blind poet, as helpless as Samson among his enemies in Restoration England, was moved by the story to write his great poem Samson Agonistes.

But the Bible calls Samson a hero of faith; faith, not pain. In his mighty death it sees the promise of an even greater salvation.

Even for those not so well-versed in the Bible, Samson has become a household name. He is the stereotype of the 'mighty hero". Is this characterization a correct one, or a misconception of the masses? What gives Samson his superstar status, making him easily the most popular and widely known Judge? If it is for his brute physical strength, the sages surprise us by telling us that Samson was lame! Why would they say such a thing if not to remove from our minds the image of a macho- muscle-man.

Perhaps one might want to say that Samson fulfilled the definition of "hero" (gibor, in Hebrew) according to "Pirke Avot": "Who is a 'gibor'? He who conquers his evil inclination". Without delving too deep into Samson's deeds and motives with women, one can safely say that he was not exactly a symbol of the "Tzadik" who overcame his "Yaizer" (evil inclination). The sages tell us clearly: "Samson went after his eyes, and thus his eyes were gouged out by the Philistines."

Must we then conclude that the popularity surrounding the figure of Samson today is due to the fact that somehow, his persona "caught on" more than other heroic figures in the Bible? Is Samson's popularity amongst the masses simply a product of media-hype? After all, Devora, Yiftach, Gideon and every other Judge certainly killed a lot more of the enemy than Samson did. Killing a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass is quite an accomplishment, but it hardly rates with the electrifying and decisive victories of the other Judges that ruled before him. In fact, when the Bible tells us that the "dead that he slew in his death were more than he slew in his life" - it is not meant as a compliment, but rather as a commentary that Samson did not put up the "big numbers" like the other Judges did.

And so again, is Samson, the darling of the masses, somehow overrated? Let us not jump to hasty conclusions! After all, Jacob himself saw Samson's potential to be the Messiah. In addition, in comparison to all the other Judges mentioned in the Book of Judges, Samson has by far the most space allotted to him. This brings us to another difficult question. During his lifetime, Samson was scorned by his own people to such an extent that we find no parallel to it with any other Judge. At one point, fellow Jews even turn him over to the Philistines. Since his support among the people is virtually non-existent, he is reduced to carrying out partisan-style attacks against the enemy instead of leading an army against them. Why should the Bible dedicate so many chapters and stories to a Judge who had absolutely no supporting cast? Why is HE a candidate for Messiah?

Despite all the above questions and doubts, it is clear that Samson is indeed someone very special. Even before his birth, an angel of God came to his parents and spoke of the birth of this extraordinary son, "for a Nazarite to God shall the boy be...and he will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines."

The answer to the riddle of Samson's greatness lies in the supposed weakness of his not enjoying the support of his people. Even though he was betrayed by his own people, he continued to love them and fight on their behalf. His internal strength and his willingness to stand alone and fight "Chillul Hashem" (the desecration of God's Name) are why he is described as "beginning to save Israel". In the same way that Moses never turned his back on the Jewish People, despite their endless accusations against him, Samson remained firm in his faith and "Ahavat Yisrael". At the same time, the people disparaged him as irresponsible and violent, a hot-blooded lunatic who "makes things worse" by fermenting hatred against the Jews on the part of the Philistines. Samson paid no heed to them. For this he would eventually be recognized as the great leader he was.

And while it is true that he sinned, Samson physically sacrificed himself for the Jewish People. Even in his last moments where he stood weakened, blinded, and bound - what grieved him was not his personal suffering, but rather the tremendous desecration of God's Name that this was causing. When Jacob saw all this; placing God's Honor over his own, putting his people's pain before his own - he understood that such a man is worthy of being the Messiah.

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