Editing Samson (section)

===Scholarly===
====Comparison with other religious and mythological  figures====
Some modern academics have interpreted Samson as a solar deity, as a [[demi-god]] (such as [[Hercules]] or [[Enkidu]], among others) somehow enfolded into Jewish religious lore, or as an [[archetype |archetypical]] [[folk hero]].<ref>Mobley (2006), p. 5.</ref>

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some [[Comparative mythology|comparative mythologists]] interpreted Samson as a [[Euhemerism|euhemerized]] [[solar deity]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Jastrow|first=Morris|author-link=Morris Jastrow, Jr|title=The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria|url=https://archive.org/details/TheReligionOfBabyloniaAndAssyria_410|location=Boston|publisher=Ginn & Company|date=1898}}</ref><ref name=Burney1918>{{cite book|author-link=Charles Fox Burney|first=Charles Fox |last=Burney|title=The Book of Judges, with Introduction and Notes|location=London|publisher= Rivingtons|date= 1918|url=}}</ref><ref name=Graves1955>{{cite book|author-link=Robert Graves|last=Graves|first= Robert|date=1955|title=The Greek Myths|title-link=The Greek Myths|chapter=Herakles}}</ref><ref name= Mobley2006>{{cite book|last1=Mobley|first1=Gregory|title=Samson and the Liminal Hero in the Ancient Near East|date=2006|publisher=T & T Clark|location=New York and London|isbn=978-0567028426|pages=5–12|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VqyoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA6 }}</ref> arguing that Samson's name is derived from  Hebrew ''šemeš'', meaning "Sun",<ref name="Mobley2006"/><ref name=VanderToorn/> and that his long hair might represent the Sun's rays.<ref name="Mobley2006"/> These solar theorists also pointed out that the legend of Samson is set within the general vicinity of [[Beth Shemesh]], a village whose name means "Temple of the Sun".<ref name= Mobley2006/> They argued that the name ''Delilah'' may have been a wordplay with the Hebrew word for night, ''[[Leila (name)|layla]]'', which "consumes" the day.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|editor1-last=Freedman|editor1-first=David Noel|editor1-link=David Noel Freedman|date=2000|title=Eerdmans Dictionary of The Bible|page=[https://archive.org/details/eerdmansdictiona0000unse/page/336 336 (entry for 'Delilah')]|publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.|isbn=0802824005|url=https://archive.org/details/eerdmansdictiona0000unse/page/336}}</ref> Although this hypothesis is still sometimes promoted in scholarly circles,<ref name= Mobley2006/> it has generally fallen out of favor due to the superficiality of supporting evidence.<ref name= Mobley2006/>

[[File:Sansón matando al león - Pedro Pablo Rubens.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|''Samson Slaying the Lion'' (1628) by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]]]

An interpretation far more popular among current scholars holds that Samson is a Hebrew variant of the same international Near Eastern [[folk hero]] which inspired the earlier Mesopotamian [[Enkidu]] and the later Greek Heracles (and, by extension, his Roman [[Hercules]] adaptation).<ref name=Wajdenbaum>{{cite book|last=Wajdenbaum|first=P.|date=2014|title=Argonauts of the Desert: Structural Analysis of the Hebrew Bible|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3kiPBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA223 |location= New York and London|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1845539245|pages=223–227}}</ref><ref name= Mobley2006/><ref name=VanderToorn/> Heracles and Samson both slew a lion bare-handed (the former killed the [[Nemean lion]]).<ref name= Mobley2006/><ref name=VanderToorn/> Likewise, they were both believed to have once been extremely thirsty and drunk water which poured out from a rock,<ref name= Wajdenbaum/> and to have torn down the gates of a city.<ref name= Wajdenbaum/> They were both betrayed by a woman (Heracles by [[Deianira]], Samson by Delilah),<ref name= Mobley2006/> who led them to their respective dooms.<ref name= Mobley2006/> Both heroes, champions of their respective peoples, die by their own hands:<ref name= Mobley2006/> Heracles ends his life on a [[pyre]]; whereas Samson makes the Philistine temple collapse upon himself and his enemies.<ref name= Mobley2006/> In this interpretation, the annunciation of Samson's birth to his mother is a [[Religious censorship |censored]] account of [[Miraculous births|divine conception]].<ref name= Wajdenbaum/>

[[File:4859viki Fontanna Walka i Zwycięstwo. Foto Barbara Maliszewska.jpg|thumb|right|300px|A monument of Samson in [[Wrocław]], Poland]]

Samson also strongly resembles [[Shamgar]],<ref name= Mobley2006/> another hero mentioned in the Book of Judges,<ref name= Mobley2006/> who, in {{bibleverse|Judges|3:31|HE}}, is described as having slain 600 Philistines with an [[ox-goad]].<ref name= Mobley2006/>

====Traditional views====
These views are disputed by traditional and conservative biblical scholars who consider Samson to be a literal historical figure and thus reject any connections to mythological heroes.<ref name= Mobley2006/> The concept of Samson as a "solar hero" has been described as "an artificial ingenuity".<ref>{{cite book|last=Cooke|first=George Albert|date=1913|title=The Book of Judges|url=https://archive.org/details/bookofjudgesinre00cookuoft|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> Joan Comay, co-author of ''Who's Who in the Bible: The Old Testament and the Apocrypha, The New Testament'', believes that the biblical story of Samson is so specific concerning time and place that Samson was undoubtedly a real person who pitted his great strength against the oppressors of Israel.<ref name= eee>{{wwbible|Old Testament, 320}}</ref>

====Religious and moral meaning or lack of it====
In contrast, James King West considers that the hostilities between the Philistines and Hebrews appear to be of a "purely personal and local sort".<ref name= West1971>{{cite book|last=West|first=James King|date=1971|title=Introduction to the Old Testament|location= New York|publisher=MacMillan Company|page=183}}</ref> He also considers that Samson stories have, in contrast to much of Judges, an "almost total lack of a religious or moral tone".<ref name= West1971/>

Conversely, Elon Gilad of ''[[Haaretz]]'' writes "some biblical stories are flat-out [[Cautionary tale|cautions]] against [[Exogamy|marrying foreign women]], none more than the story of Samson".<ref name= Gilead>{{cite news|last=Gilad|first=Elon|title=Intermarriage and the Jews: What Would the Early Israelites Say?|url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/shavuot/.premium-1.595543|access-date=30 October 2017|newspaper=[[Haaretz]]|date=4 June 2014}}</ref> Gilad notes how Samson's parents disapprove of his desire to marry a Philistine woman and how Samson's relationship with Delilah leads to his demise.<ref name=Gilead/> He contrasts this with what he sees as a more positive portrayal of intermarriage in the [[Book of Ruth]].<ref name=Gilead/>

====Suicide terrorist====
Some academic writers have interpreted Samson as a [[Suicide attack|suicide terrorist]] portrayed in a positive light by the text, and compared him to those responsible for the [[September 11 attacks]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wicker|first=Brian|date=2003|title=Samson Terroristes: A Theological Reflection on Suicidal Terrorism|journal=New Blackfriars|volume=84|issue=983|pages=42–60|doi=10.1111/j.1741-2005.2003.tb06486.x|jstor=43250680|issn=0028-4289}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Atiya|first=A. S.|date=1973|title=Review of Christian Egypt: Faith and Life|journal=Middle East Journal|volume=27|issue=2|pages=231–232|jstor=4325068|issn=0026-3141}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Drury |first=Shadia |date=2003 |title=Terrorism: From Samson to Atta |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41858434 |journal=Arab Studies Quarterly |volume=25 |issue=1/2 |pages=1–12 |jstor=41858434 |issn=0271-3519}}</ref>