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  • From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Samson at Gaza - Judges 16:1
  • Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2007 22:47:47 +0300

Dear Bruce,

We must be very careful not to superimpose "our" morals (Christian, Jewish or otherwise) on biblical narative. The Hebrew text says that Samson "came to" the prostitute, which in every other case that I can think of means that he had sex with her. And while this may not be the sort of behavior that one would expect of a pious individual, it certainly does not make him "a bad man". Prostitution was (and unfortunately still is) a fact of life, and most of the characters in the Bible are pictured as "regular folk". Samson was a wild cannon, but he was God's instrument in saving Israel at that time.

Your comment about "Christendom paints Samson as a bad man" is interesting. How representative is that statement of different Christian denominations. Jewish tradition pictures him very differently. In this particular case, the Targum (the ancient Jewish Aramaic translation) renders "zonah" as "innkeeper" (just like with Rahab) and this is followed by the commentators, keeping Samson "clean".

On the site of biblical Zorah, in the hills northwest of Beth-Shemesh, there is an old grave which somebody "identified" several decades ago as the "tomb of Samson and his father Manoah" (cf. Judges 16:31). Whether it "really" is or is not is not important - there have been other candidates over the years. If you ever visit the site, you may well meet people praying at the "tomb", asking the "pious man" to intervene in heaven on their behalf. And on the grave there is an inscription that says: "Here lie Samson and his father Manoah, a messiah in his generation".

BTW, despite what they may have told you in Sunday school (and what they tell my kids in shcool!), Joshua 2:1 at least hints at the fact that the spies entered Rahab's house "and lay there". "Lay" usually means what it sounds like, but most translations tend to use more "polite" language there as well.

Yigal Levin


----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce Prince" <bruceprince AT bigpond.com>
To: "b-Hebrew List" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2007 10:18 PM
Subject: [b-hebrew] Samson at Gaza - Judges 16:1


Folks

Not being very good at understanding the intricate details of Biblical
Hebrew, I'm wondering if you can help me understand what is going on in this
verse?

Generally, Christendom paints Samson as a bad man, but I'm not convinced.
Even whilst staying in Gaza, the power of the Lord was upon him as he heaved
those massive gates out of their foundation and up the hill. God's purpose
for Samson was to rile the Philistines - a task he seemed particularly
adapted to.

Samson's reputation had gone before him to this city, and I'm wondering if
he was simply using the home of the harlot as a place of abode in much the
same way that the spies used Rahab's home in Jericho.

Does the Hebrew of this verse undeniably state that Samson had intercourse
with the harlot? Verse 3 states that he lay until midnight; it doesn't say
that he lay with her.

I'd appreciate any views.

Thanks

Bruce Prince
Australia

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