History and ethnology. Data. Events. Fiction. Interesting facts about Samson Who is Samson from the bible

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WITH amson, lat. Samson, Shimshon (Heb. presumably "servant" or "solar"), the hero of the Old Testament traditions (Judg. 13-16), endowed with unprecedented physical strength; the twelfth of the "judges of Israel". Son Manoya from the tribe of Dan, from the city of Zorah. By the time of Samson, the sons of Israel, who continued to "do evil in the sight of the Lord," had been under the yoke of the Philistines for forty years.

The birth of Samson, who is destined to "save Israel from the hand of the Philistines" (13, 5), is predicted by an angel to Mano and his wife, who had been childless for a long time. By this, Samson (like Isaac, Samuel, etc.) is elected to serve God "from the womb", and the command is given - to prepare the child for life-long Nazariteship (a vow that consisted in observing ritual purity and abstaining from wine for total dedication to God; external a sign of a Nazirite is long hair, which is forbidden to cut, - Numbers 6, 1-5). Then the angel ascends to heaven in the flame of the sacrifice burnt by Manoah (13:20-21). From childhood on Samson, at the decisive moments of his life, the "spirit of the Lord" descends, giving him miraculous power, with the help of which Samson overcomes any enemies. All his actions have a hidden meaning, incomprehensible to others. So, a young man, against the will of his parents, decides to marry a Philistine woman. At the same time, he is guided by a secret desire to find an opportunity to take revenge on the Philistines (14, 3-4). On the way to Thimnafa, where Samson's bride lived, he is attacked by a young lion, but Samson, filled with the "spirit of the Lord", tears him apart like a kid (14, 6). Later, Samson finds a swarm of bees in the corpse of this lion and saturates himself with honey from there (14, 8). This gives him a reason at the wedding feast to ask thirty Philistines - "marriage friends" - an unsolvable riddle: "From the eater came the eatable, and from the strong came the sweet" (14, 14). Samson bet thirty shirts and thirty changes of clothes that the marriage friends would not find a clue, and they, having come up with nothing in the seven days of the feast, threatened Samson's wife that they would burn her house if he "wrap them up." Yielding to the requests of his wife, Samson tells her the answer - and immediately hears it from the lips of the Philistines: "What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion?" Then, carrying out the first act of his revenge, Samson strikes down thirty Philistine warriors and gives their clothes to his married friends. Samson's anger and his return to Tzor are regarded by his wife as a divorce, and she marries one of her marriage friends (14, 17-20). This serves as a pretext for a new act of revenge on the Philistines: having caught three hundred foxes, Samson ties them in pairs with their tails, ties burning torches to them and releases the Philistines into the harvest, putting the entire crop on fire (15, 4-5). For this, the Philistines burn Samson's wife and her father, and in response to Samson's new attack, the whole Philistine army invades Judea. Three thousand Jewish envoys ask him to surrender to the Philistines and thereby avert the threat of devastation from Judea. Samson allows them to tie themselves up and hand them over to the Philistines. However, in the camp of the enemies, “the spirit of the Lord descended on him, and the ropes ... fell ... from his hands” (15, 14). Immediately, Samson, raising a donkey's jaw from the ground, strikes a thousand Philistine soldiers with it. After the battle, at the prayer of Samson, who was exhausted from thirst, a spring breaks out of the earth, which received the name “the source of the caller” (Ein-Gakore), and the whole area, in honor of the battle, was named Ramat-Lehi (“Upland of the jaw”) (15, 15-19). After these exploits, Samson is popularly elected "Judge of Israel" and rules for twenty years.
When the inhabitants of Gaza of the Philistines, notified that Samson will spend the night in the house of a harlot, lock the city gates so as not to let him out of the city alive. Samson, having risen at midnight, pulls the gate out of the ground, puts it on his shoulders, and, having passed half of Canaan with them, sets them up on the top of a mountain near Hebron (16, 3).
The culprit of Samson's death is his beloved, the Philistine Delilah from the Sorek Valley. Bribed by the "Philistine rulers", she tries three times to find out from S. the source of his miraculous power, but Samson deceives her three times, saying that he will become powerless if he is tied with seven damp bowstrings, or entangled with new ropes, or his hair is stuck in cloth. At night, Delilah does all this, but Samson, waking up, easily breaks any bonds (16, 6-13). Finally, tired of Delilah’s accusations of dislike and distrust of her, Samson “revealed his whole heart to her”: he is a Nazarite of God from the womb of his mother, and if you cut his hair, the vow will be broken, his strength will leave him and he will become, “like other people » (16, 17). At night, the Philistines cut the “seven braids of the head” of the sleeping Samson, and, waking up to the cry of Delilah: “The Philistines are at you, Samson!”, He feels that strength has receded from him. Enemies blind him, put him in chains and make him turn the millstones in the dungeon of Gaza. Meanwhile, his hair is gradually growing back. To enjoy the humiliation of Samson, the Philistines bring him to the temple for a feast Dagon and forced to "amuse" the audience. Samson asks the lad to lead him to the central pillars of the temple in order to lean on them. Having offered up a prayer to God, Samson, having regained strength, moves the two middle pillars of the temple from their place and with the exclamation “May my soul die with the Philistines!” collapses the entire building on those gathered, killing more enemies in the moment of his death than in his entire life.
In the haggadah, Samson's name is etymologized as "solar", which is interpreted as evidence of his closeness to God, who "is the sun and shield" (Ps. 83, 12). When the “spirit of the Lord” descended on Samson, he gained such power that, lifting two mountains, he cut fire from them, as from flints; taking one step, he covered the distance between two cities ("Vayikra Rabba" 8, 2). Forefather Jacob, predicting the future of the tribe of Dan with the words: “Dan will judge his people... Dan will be a serpent on the road...” (Genesis 49:16-17), had in mind the times of Judge Samson. And he is like a snake: both live alone, both have all the strength in their heads, both are vengeful, both, dying, kill enemies (“Genesis Rabbah” 98, 18-19). Samson was forgiven all sins because he never took the name of God in vain; but having revealed to Delilah that he was a Nazirite, Samson was immediately punished: all his previous sins were imputed to him - and he, who "followed the inclination of his eyes" (committed adultery), was blinded. Strength returned to him before his death as a reward for humility: being an Israeli judge, he never became proud and did not exalt himself over anyone (“Sotah” 10a).
The image of Samson is typologically compared with such epic heroes as the Sumerian-Akkadian Gilgamesh, the Greek Hercules and Orion, etc. Like them, Samson has supernatural power, performs heroic deeds, including engaging in single combat with a lion. The loss of miraculous power (or death) as a result of female deceit is also characteristic of a number of epic heroes. Representatives of the old solar-meteorological school saw in Samson the personification of the sun, which, in their opinion, is indicated by the name of Samson (“sunny”); Samson's hair supposedly symbolizes the sun's rays, "cut off" by night darkness (Dalila is considered as the personification of the night, her name is derived from the Hebrew "night" by some scientists); foxes setting fire to grain fields - days of summer drought, etc.
In the visual arts, the following plots were most fully embodied: Samson tearing apart a lion (engraving by A. Dürer, a statue for the Peterhof fountain by M. I. Kozlovsky, etc.), Samson's struggle with the Philistines (sculptures by Pierino da Vinci, J. Bologna), betrayal Delilah (paintings by A. Mantegna, A. van Dyck and others), the heroic death of Samson (mosaic of the Church of St. Gereon in Cologne, 12th century, bas-relief of the Lower Church in Pec, 12th century, Hungary, bas-relief of B. Bellano, etc. .). All the main events of Samson's life were reflected in his work by Rembrandt ("Samson asks a riddle at the feast", "Samson and Delilah", "Blinding of Samson", etc.). Among the works of fiction, the most significant dramatic poem by J. Milton "Samson the Fighter", among the musical and dramatic works - the oratorio by G. F. Handel "Samson" and the opera by C. K. Saint-Saens "Samson and Delilah".

The birth of Samson was foretold by an angel. He was born from a barren woman. His father was Manoah, from the tribe of Dan. According to the Angel, the baby will be “the Nazirite of God” and will “save Israel from the hand of the Philistines” (Bk. Judges of Israel, chapter 13). Soon an angel appeared to Manoah and said that the baby, when he grows up, should beware of everything that the vine produces and not eat unclean things, then he will be able to resist the Philistines.

When the boy was born, he was named Samson (Shimshon). Growing up, Samson saw a woman from the daughters of the Philistines, who at that time ruled over Israel, and began to ask his father to take this woman to his wife.

Samson went with his father and mother to Timnatha, where a woman lived. Soon they saw that a young lion was walking towards them. Samson defeated the lion with his bare hands. Here, for the first time, Samson's enormous physical strength was manifested, which he later often used. Samson met with his chosen one, and she began to like him even more.

A few days later, Samson again went to the chosen one on the same road and saw that a swarm of bees started up in the corpse of a lion. Samson took honey from the corpse and ate it himself, and treated his parents.

Soon a wedding was played, at which Samson asked the Philistines present a riddle:

out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet. ( Book. Judges of Israel, chapter 14)

As you probably already guessed, this riddle was about a lion and honey. The Philistines could not solve the riddle and sent a wife to Samson to find out the solution. For seven days she cried and asked Samson to solve the riddle, until he finally gave up. Samson's wife told the answer to the sons of her people.

Samson got angry and punished 30 Philistines with death. Thus began the confrontation between Samson and the Philistines, which is described in detail in Chapter 15 of the Book of Judges. Samson was the judge of Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.

It is important to understand what " Judge of Israel". The age of judges is a troubled time after the death of Joshua, characterized by inter-tribal strife. The judges are authoritative figures among the Israelis, active representatives of the national identity, who resisted the assimilation of the Israelis by the local tribes. Judges commanded the people's militia, and also performed legal functions. The power of judges was based either on high authority or on strength.

Let's return to the legend of Samson and Delilah. Delilah lived in the Sorek Valley. Samson loved her. The Philistines, having learned about Samson's feelings, decided to bribe Delilah so that she would find out the secret of Samson's enormous physical strength. Modern scholars have calculated that Delilah received 5,500 shekels of silver (62,700 grams) for her betrayal.

Samson revealed to Delilah the secret of his strength, and she was in Samson's hair.

... but if you cut my hair, then my strength will depart from me; I will become weak and be like other people. (Book of Judges of Israel, chapter 16)

Delilah cut off the hair of the sleeping Samson and handed him over to the hands of the Philistines, who bound him with copper chains, blinded him and took him to Gaza to the house of the prisoners. Soon many Philistines gathered here to sacrifice Samson to their god Dagon. Meanwhile, the hair on Samson's head began to grow, and he moved the two supporting pillars that supported the entire house, and brought the house down on the Philistines, thereby killing more Philistines than in 20 years of his judgement. Samson was also buried under the rubble. They buried him next to his father.

What does the biblical story about Samson and Delilah teach?

Many believe that the story of Samson and Delilah is a story of betrayal, however, this is an erroneous opinion. The motive of betrayal is indeed very frequent in the Bible. One can, for example, recall the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, the story of Joseph and his brothers, etc. But, although this motif can be traced in the legend of Samson and Delilah, it is not the main one here.

One of the most important lessons we can learn from the biblical story of Samson and Delilah is to learn to control our emotions and not let our emotions control us. The desire for revenge and a sense of rage is what really killed Samson.

Samson died because he let his emotions rule his behavior. He killed the Philistines out of anger and revenge. We have no right to kill or harm because we cannot control our anger. Justice must be in the hands of God. Samson fought the Philistines for twenty years. He killed many and destroyed much. He was angry, and anger distracted him from God's plan for him. The mission that God entrusted to him became his personal battle, he was already fighting for himself, following his own anger, his passions. Revenge became a powerful and all-consuming force in Samson's heart and changed the direction of his life.

The blindness of Samson described in the Bible is nothing more than a symbolic description of his spiritual blindness. It is not clear at what point Samson stopped following the path of the Lord, and went on the path of his own revenge, using the strength that the Lord gave him.

Why did Delilah betray Samson?

Many Bible scholars wonder why Delilah so easily betrayed the man who loved her? Actually the reason is the same. Delilah, like Samson, was obsessed with the desire for revenge. Of course, Delilah knew about Samson and his actions, among which there were many impartial ones. So, as we know from the Bible, Samson burned his first wife alive, killed many Philistines, was known for his promiscuous connections and bragging. Taking all this into account, one can understand why Delilah's act does not seem illogical.

Delilah was also motivated by revenge, as was Samson. She hated the Israelites as much as Samson hated the Philistines.

When we feel bad or hurt, we want those who offended us to be also offended. Such a position only at first glance seems fair. The desire to get even is the desire for revenge, which should not have a place in our hearts. God's ways are higher than our ways, and we should not question them.

The story of Samson and Delilah reminds us of the importance of having pure hearts and following God's way!

When asked what was the name of the hero of the myths of ancient Greece, whose strength was in the hair? given by the author chevron the best answer is At a time when the Jews were under the rule of the Philistines, to save the chosen people, God sent Samson, who had great power. The secret of his strength was in his hair - as long as they were not touched by a razor or scissors, the hero could move mountains. Using this gift, Samson caused great trouble to his enemies, killing them by the thousands. Once, noticing that the hero was carried away by one woman (her name was Delilah), the Philistines asked her to find out from Samson the secret of his strength, promising the harlot a large reward. With great difficulty, the harlot managed to persuade Samson to open his heart to her, as a result of which the Philistines put Samson in chains and, having gouged out his eyes, put him in prison. After some time, many Philistines gathered in one house to celebrate the overthrow of their enemy and offer sacrifices to the gods. When the fun was in full swing, Samson was called in to laugh at him. However, the hero's hair had already begun to grow, and, through prayer, his former strength returned to him again. Samson broke the pillars on which the house stood; the house collapsed, and everyone who was there died under the rubble.

Answer from marriage[guru]
Samson

Answer from intricately woven[guru]
Samson, his wife's name was Delilah

Answer from Snow Maiden[guru]
samson it! as you all guessed!)

Answer from Azat Amantaev[newbie]
Samson

Answer from BK89[newbie]
The biblical character is a man of extraordinary strength - Samson. .
Samso?n (Hebrew ???????????, Shimsho?n) is the famous biblical Judge-hero, who became famous for his exploits in the fight against the Philistines.
The exploits of Samson are described in the biblical Book of Judges (ch. 13-16). He came from the tribe of Dan, who suffered the most from the enslavement of the Philistines. Samson grew up among the slavish humiliation of his people and decided to take revenge on the enslavers, which he achieved by committing many beatings of the Philistines.
Consecrated to God as a Nazirite, he wore long hair, which was the source of his extraordinary power.
Samson succumbed to passion for the insidious Philistine Delilah (in the Russian tradition, Delilah), who promised the Philistine rulers for a reward to find out what Samson's strength is. After three unsuccessful attempts, she managed to learn the secret of his power. .
And she [Dalida] put him to sleep on her knees, and called a man, and ordered him to cut off the seven braids of his head. And he began to weaken, and his strength departed from him.
Having lost his strength, Samson was captured by the Philistines, blinded, chained and thrown into prison.
The ordeal led Samson to sincere repentance and contrition. Soon the Philistines held a feast where they thanked their god Dagon for handing over Samson into their hands, and then brought Samson to the temple to amuse them. Meanwhile, Samson's hair had grown back, and strength began to return to him. And Samson called to the Lord and said: Lord God! remember me and strengthen me only now, O God! »
And Samson said: Die, my soul, with the Philistines! And he rested [with all] his strength, and the house collapsed on the owners and on all the people who were in it. And there were more dead, whom [Samson] slew at his death, more than how many he slew in his life.
The biblical story of Samson ends with the message of Samson's burial in the family tomb between Zor'ah and Eshtaol.
Samson - Israeli Hercules.
There is no doubt that Samson, despite the mythical elements in the narrative that turn him into an Israeli Hercules, is a real person in whom a juvenile criminal and a hero, a superman and a half-wit, with a paranoid craving for violence, vandalism, arson, promiscuity with fallen women mixed in a strange way. Samson is an excellent example of the line pursued by the Bible, namely: G-d and society are often of great service to semi-criminal individuals, outcasts and losers, who, thanks to their exploits, become folk heroes, and then canonized by religion. .
"Samson's long (like sunbeams?) hair has prompted a number of scholars to consider him a mythical character, etymologically related to the Canaanite sun-god Shemesh, whose sanctuary Beit Shemesh, or Irshemesh, was located in the center of the territory that originally belonged to the tribe of Dan. In any case, Samson acquired fame as a violent giant, a folklore hero, famous for his indefatigable strength and obscene antics.But for all that, he was probably a historical figure, one of the leaders of the stubborn resistance, who deserved a good name "...

Samson (Hebrew שִׁמְשׁוֹן‎, Shimshon) is the famous biblical Judge-hero, famous for his exploits in the fight against the Philistines.

Guido Reni.Der siegreiche Simson.161 1-1612

Frederic Leighton.Sansone (Samson).1858

Bible story

The exploits of Samson are described in the biblical Book of Judges. He came from the tribe of Dan, who suffered the most from the enslavement of the Philistines. Samson grew up among the slavish humiliation of his people and decided to take revenge on the enslavers, which he achieved by committing many beatings of the Philistines.

Consecrated to God as a Nazirite, he wore long hair, which was the source of his extraordinary power. The angel prophesied:

"And he will begin the salvation of Israel from the hand of the Philistines"

The Philistines then ruled the Israelites for nearly forty years.

From childhood, the boy possessed extraordinary strength. When he matured, he decided to marry a Philistine woman. No matter how much his parents reminded him that the law of Moses forbids marrying idolaters, Samson replied that every rule has an exception, and married his chosen one.

Landhetti Giovanni Battista Samson

One day he went to the city where his wife lived. On the way he met a young lion who wanted to rush at him, but Samson instantly grabbed the lion and tore it apart with his hands, like a kid.

Francesco Hayez.Samson und der Löwe.1842

Gustave Doré .Samson Slays a Lion.1866

During the wedding feast, which lasted several days, Samson asked the wedding guests a riddle.

Barbieri, Giovanni Francesco (Guercino) - Samson Captured by the Philistines - 1619

The bet was 30 shirts and 30 pairs of outerwear, to be paid by those who lost. The guests could not guess, and with threats forced Samson's wife to extort the correct answer from him.

Rembrandt van Rijn. Samson Guessing a Riddle at the Wedding Table. 1638

At night, in bed, she demanded that her husband give an answer to the riddle, and in the morning she told it to her fellow tribesmen. Samson had no choice but to pay the loss. To do this, he went to Ashkelon, made a fight with 30 Philistines, killed them, took off his clothes and paid for the loss.

Rembrandt. Samson threatens his father-in-law. 1635

It was the seventh day of the wedding feast. Father-in-law, without warning Samson, gave his wife to a young guy who was Samson's friend. And Samson answered them:

“Now I will be right with the Philistines if I do them harm”

Tissot Samson Slays a Thousand Men.1896-1902

He began to take revenge on all the Philistine people. One day he caught foxes, tied burning torches to their tails, and sent the foxes into the Philistine fields during the harvest. All the grain in the fields was burned. Samson himself hid in the mountains. Later, the Philistines, having learned about the reason for revenge, went to Samson's father-in-law and burned him along with his daughter. They thought this would assuage Samson's anger. But he declared that his revenge was directed against all the Philistines. And revenge is just beginning. Samson began the so-called hunt for the inhabitants of Ashkelon. He appeared before everyone who went from Ashkelon or to Ashkelon, then robbed and killed him. There are many cases of such attacks on passers-by. Samson did not let anyone into Ashkelon, because of this, famine soon began in Ashkelon. All this proud city was afraid of one Samson, so afraid, no one dared to leave the city, everyone was so frightened, as if the city was besieged by a mighty army. Later, the Philistines, in order to stop this terror, attacked the possessions of the neighboring tribe of Judah and demanded that Samson be handed over to them.

Three thousand people came to him in the mountains. They began to reproach Samson, saying that because of him they were surrounded by the Philistines, with whom they did not have the strength to fight.

“Well then,” Samson said, “bind my hands tightly and hand me over to our enemies. In this way they will give you peace. Just promise you won't kill me. »

Gustave Doré. Samson kills a thousand Philimists with a donkey's jaw. 1866

They tied Samson's hands with strong ropes and led him out of the gorge where he was hiding. But when the Philistines came to take him, he strained his strength, broke the ropes, and ran away. Without a weapon, on the way he picked up the jaw of a dead donkey and killed the Philistines he met with it to death. Soon Samson spent the night in the Philistine city of Gaza. The inhabitants found out about this, locked the city gates and decided to catch the hero early in the morning. But Samson, having risen at midnight and seeing that the gate was locked, tore it off, along with the pillars, and carried them with bars to the top of the mountain opposite Hebron.

Samson takes the gates of Gaza to the mountain. 1866

Samson succumbed to passion for the insidious Philistine Delilah (in the Russian tradition Delilah), who promised the Philistine rulers for a reward to find out what Samson's strength was.

After three unsuccessful attempts, she still managed to find out the secret: the source of Samson's strength was his uncut hair. Having lulled Samson, Dlila ordered that "seven braids of his head" be cut off. Having lost his strength, Samson was captured by the Philistines, blinded, chained and thrown into prison.

Peter Paul Rubens. Samson and Delilah, 1609

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. Samson and Delilah, 1628

Gustave Doré .Samson and Delilah.1866

John Francis Rigaud.Samson breaking his bands or Samson and Delilah.1784

Van Dyck Samson and Delilah

Francesco Morone.Samson und Dalila

“And Delilah put him to sleep on her knees, and called a man, and ordered him to cut off the seven braids of his head. And he began to weaken, and his strength departed from him.

Padovanino.Delilah cutting the hair of Samson.1588-1649

Having lost his strength, Samson was captured by the Philistines, blinded, chained and thrown into prison.

Rembrandt Harmensz.Die Blendung Simsons.1636

Samson in the Treadmill, by Carl Bloch, Danish painter, d. 1890.

The ordeal led Samson to sincere repentance and contrition. Soon the Philistines held a feast where they thanked their god Dagon for handing over Samson into their hands, and then brought Samson to the temple to amuse them.

Gustave Dore. Death of Samson.

Meanwhile, Samson's hair had grown back, and strength began to return to him. And Samson called to the Lord and said: Lord God! remember me and strengthen me only now, O God!”

And Samson said: Die, my soul, with the Philistines! And he rested with all his strength, and the house collapsed on the owners and on all the people that were in it. And there were more dead, whom Samson slew at his death, than how many he slew in his life.

The biblical story of Samson ends with the message of Samson's burial in the family tomb between Zor'ah and Eshtaol.

Samson, as a biblical historical figure, is a characteristic type of folk hero of the time of the Judges; the history of his exploits is replete with a mass of interesting everyday details, which find curious confirmation in the studies of the latest archaeologists and geographers.

Pictures are clickable

) - the son of Manoah, who was a judge of Israel for 20 years. The circumstances surrounding his birth are remarkable. Cm. . Against the wishes of his parents, who were worshipers of the Law (,), he wished to marry a woman from the Philistine city of Timnath. When he was on his way to this city with his father and mother, a young lion came out to meet them. On Samson the Spirit of the Lord came down, and he tore the lion to pieces like a kid; and he had nothing in his hand(). A few days later, he wanted to see the corpse of a lion and found in it a swarm of bees and honey, which he ate himself and brought home to his father and mother. This gave him occasion for a riddle offered to the Philistines during the wedding feast, with the promise of a valuable gift to whoever solves it within seven days, and on the condition that if they do not solve it, they will have to give him a similar gift (30 thin linen shirts and 30 changes of clothes). Being unable to solve this riddle, the guests turned to Samson's wife, who, by her urgent requests, received from him the solution of the riddle. With strong threats, they got her to solve the riddle and handed it over to Samson. But he found out about their deceit and although he kept his word and gave them a gift, but the gift cost the lives of thirty people of their compatriots - he went to Ascalon and, having killed thirty people there, took off their clothes and gave their changes of dress to those who solved the riddle. For this, he left his wife, who betrayed him in secret. Upon his return to the city of Timnath, in order to reconcile with his wife, he learned that she had remarried and could no longer see him. His father-in-law offered him another daughter, a younger, more beautiful one, as his wife. But Samson did not agree to this and decided to take revenge on the Philistines for his wife. He caught 300 foxes and attached a lighted torch to the tails of each pair and let them go into the fields and vineyards of the Philistines. As a result, a fire broke out in many places in the city and in the field, and everything became a prey to the flame. When the Philistines learned that this fire was caused by Samson because of his wife, whom her father had married Samson's friend, they set fire to the house in which Samson's wife lived, and burned her. This again brought upon the Philistines the vengeance of Samson, who came to them and broke their shins and thighs, then he sat down in the gorge of the Etama rock. Then the Philistines entered into the inheritance of Judas. The inhabitants of this lot, wishing to avert their fury from themselves, sent three thousand men to Samson to bind him and hand him over to the enemy. He himself agreed to this, on the condition that he would not be killed by his own. When they brought him to the Philistine army, and when they saw him, they let out a cry of joy, then, embraced by the Spirit of God, he broke his bands and beat a thousand soldiers with the jawbone of an ass. After this feat, he felt a strong thirst, called out to God, and immediately a spring (yamina in Lech) opened before him, which was later called the source of the caller. Having shown himself thus as an ascetic of warfare and at the same time as an ascetic of faith, Samson subsequently showed by his example that great people can have great weaknesses. Once he came to Gaza and entered the house of a harlot. The inhabitants of Gaza, having learned about this, locked the city gates and guarded in order to catch and kill him. But Samson approached the gate at night, lifted them with their ropes and locks on his shoulders and carried them to the top near the lying mountain. Such an extraordinary experience of the terrible power of Samson aroused in the Philistines a desire to know why he had such power. And so they turned to Delilah, another Philistine woman whom Samson passionately loved, with a request to find out the secret of his extraordinary strength. Hiding this from her for a long time, he finally revealed to her that he was a Nazirite to God, and that a razor had never passed over his head, and that if you cut it off, then the strength would leave him. Then Delilah, during his sleep, ordered to cut his hair, and indeed the power of God forsook him. The called Philistines took him, gouged out his eyes, brought him to Gaza, bound him with two copper chains and set him to grind in the house of the prisoners. It is very likely that in this state Samson cleansed his former sins by repentance and his strength grew along with his hair. On the feast of Dagon, the Philistines ordered him to be brought into their congregation to mock him. They laughed at him and slapped him, and finally placed him between the pillars of the building. Then Samson said to the boy who was leading him to bring him closer to the pillars on which the building was established, and, feeling them, for the last time appealed to God for help, and, resting against them, one with his right hand, and the other with his left hand , shook them with such force that the whole building collapsed, and at his death he killed the enemies more than during his life. All the circumstances of his life and exploits are detailed in the book. Judges (XIII-XVI). St. app. Paul, listing the believers, also mentions Samson as an ascetic of the true faith (