Biblical Hebrew Forum

["JAMES CHRISTIAN READ" <JCR128 AT student.anglia.ac.uk>]

In addition to George's observations of Samson inclusion 
in the list of hebrew heroes of great faith it should 
perhaps also be noted that while there are ups and downs 
to Samson's story the conclusion is definitely one of 
great heroism (Judges 16:30) where it is noted that 
Samson killed more Philistines with his death than in his 
entire life.

Those with a Christian viewpoint may also notice the 
theme of rendering up ones life in sacrifice for the 
many.

A theme for all that may be noted is how Yhwh proved 
his strength over competing gods by destroying the 
Philistines during a sacrifice offering for their 
prematurely supposed 'victory'. The fact that Samson 
lost his strength by allowing his vow to be broken 
highlights the fact that his abnormal strength was not 
a result of being genetically gifted but that his 
victories should only be attributed to Yhwh.

It is easy to understand why 20th century Christians 
would like to interpret passages in order to preserve 
the sanctity of biblical heroes but a faithful
translation should IMHO seek to preserve the non
censored intentions of the authors.

James Christian Read
BSc Computer Science (thesis: concept driven machine translation using the 
Aleppo codex)
http://www.lamie.org/hebrew

















many.

A theme for all that may be noted is how Yhwh proved
his strength over competing gods by destroying the
Philistines during a sacrifice offering for their
prematurely supposed 'victory'. The fact that Samson
lost his strength by allowing his vow to be broken
highlights the fact that his abnormal strength was not
a result of being genetically gifted but that his
victories should only be attributed to Yhwh.

It is easy to underst