Samson: Encyclopedia II - Samson - Samson as myth

Samson - Samson as myth

Samson - Samson's name and birthplace

In the Hebrew text that English translations of the book of Judges are based on, Samson is named Shimshon (Samson is an English rendering). Standard translations of the meaning of this name are usually ...who serves... or of the sun, but it can also be translated as Little Shamash (essentially as Shamash-ino). Shamash itself translates as sun or ...who serves.., but it is also the name of a Semitic sun-god, Shamash.

In the Tanakh, Samson was born in a place known as Tsorah. Tsorah is very close to Beth-Shamash (meaning House of Shamash), a Shamash cult-center. Shamash was a major god of Assyria and Babylon, which were situated near to Israel and Judah, whose name is thought to indicate that at earlier times Shamash was a more minor god.

Samson is also described as having to undertake Nazoritic vows. Nazaroth is the word used in Hebrew for the Zodiac. Vows of the zodiac were taken by the sun-gods as they grew up, to guarantee the passing of the year.

Samson - Dusk

Much early Semitic literature often features names that serve a descriptive function, rather than an accurate representation of names (for example the conflict between Hillel (whose name means victor) and Shammiel (whose name means loser), and also use was made of anagrams, and other devices (for example in the general consideration of the meaning of Yeshu).

The name Delilah, which is now considered to be Biblical Hebrew for charming can also be considered to be composed as D-lilah. D on its own is Dalet, which means door, whereas lilah means night, thus D-lilah is Door of the night.

Depictions of co-temporal sun-gods (for example, Shamash) from other religions in the region sometimes depict them having streamers, or hair, surrounding their head, representing the rays of the sun. When the sun loses its rays as it descends each night, the earth becomes colder, and the sun has lost its strength. By shearing it of its hair, the door of the night has robbed it of its strength, but as the next day begins, the hair grows back.

During the time the sun goes down, it gets darker, and is eventually not visible, though still present for a while, giving a mild amount of dusk light. Thus it has been blinded by the night. Solar eclipses, and winter, were also occasions during which early mythology regarded the sun as having been blinded by some cause.

Samson - The day

The sun-gods of many early groups had associations with pillars, Thor had Thor's pillars, Herakles had The pillars of Herakles, and Melqart had the pillars that Herakles claimed before him. According to Strabo, Herakles had another set of pillars in the east. Arnobius explicitly states that the western pillars were placed there by Herakles because that is where the sun sets.

A theological set of pillars at the extreme west and east represented the limits of the sun's daily path, one set where it begins, and one where it dies. In the case of Melqart an actual set of pillars was created in the west, by Cadiz (on the island of Sancti Petri).

These theological limit pillars also appeared in other temples closer to Israel, such as in Tyre (three have been excavated, one to Shamash, each having two pillars), and even in Solomon's Temple (designed by Tyrians according to the Tanakh) in which they were named Boaz and Jachin.

The gateposts Samson begins his journey at, the gateposts that form the temple, are unlikely to refer to real gateposts. The Tanakh recounts that Samson took the gates, bar, and doorposts, carrying all on his shoulder to the top of a hill. City gates of the period, when excavated, reveal gigantic monoliths as the posts, and another as the lintel, so large that it would take a team of men to drag them into place. To remove the whole lot in one step would require also lifting up the wall that rested on them (and causing the entire wall to collapse). Since Samson later dies by pulling apart a temple, it is difficult to see how he could survive pulling apart a greater weight, and additionally carry most of it.

Samson dies by pulling down the two central pillars in a temple. The pillars at the end of the sun-god Melqart's daily journey, i.e., at his death (and also where Herakles was said to have died), were also considered to be in a temple (in Cadiz, which was at that time known as Gades). In excavated temples of Melqart, and other sun-gods of the region, such as Dagon, the pillars were placed at least three metres apart, and as such to pull the Philistine temple's down by pushing apart its two pillars would require an armspan significantly over three metres. To complete this task, Samson would thus require to be at least three times the size of an average human (thus a giant notable in records of other cultures, which have not been uncovered), or have arms very much longer than his body (similar to an orangutan).

Samson - The yearly sun

Melqart, a sun god, was regarded by the ancient Greeks as a version of Herakles, and known in this form as the Tyrian Herakles. The Tyrian Herakles was strong, since the sun's heat is strong, and Herakles used his strength to kill a lion (the Nemean Lion) - a sun-related myth concerning the constellation Leo, which appears in the midst of summer (the main season of the sun). Samson was strong and killed a lion.

One myth concerning the Tyrian Herakles ties him to a Lydian by the name of Omphale, Omphale means navel, referring to the axis of the celestial sphere. Thus Omphale may be a Lydian goddess to which the sun-god was originally subservient, thus the name of Shamash meaning ...who serves.... Since the lion (Leo) is a constellation, the sun's turning round the axis of the celestial sphere means that it returns to the lion much later (after about a year). Omphale also means beehive, to which the lion of Samson had transformed on his return.

Herakles led the battles to free Thebes (the nation he was born into) from its oppressors, a general attribution given to sun gods. The Tribe of Dan may have originated amongst the Sea Peoples confederation, and as such their separation from it would have been a significant issue in their relations with the Philistines (who were amongst the Sea Peoples). Thus heroes of the Tribe of Dan would have their enemies as the Philistines.

At the time of the harvest, Samson sets fire to the fields, as does the sun in the dry Mediterranean climate. In winter, the sun reaches the solstice and stays at a static position for about three weeks. The apparent danger to the sun's survival, and its binding, is represented in the story in which Herakles finds himself bound in chains to be a victim of King Busiris's annual sacrifice, but eventually manages to burst free. Samson similarly bursts free of his chains when about to be sacrificed to the Philistines.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Samson as myth", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki