Editing Samson (section)

===Rabbinic literature===
{{main article|Samson in rabbinic literature}}
[[File:Lovis Corinth - Der geblendete Simson - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|right|''The Blinded Samson'' (1912) by [[Lovis Corinth]]]]
[[Rabbinic literature]] identifies Samson with [[Bedan]],<ref name="ppp"/> a Judge mentioned by [[Samuel]] in his farewell address ({{bibleverse |1 Samuel|12:11|HE}}) among the Judges who delivered Israel from their enemies.<ref name="bedan"/> However, the name "Bedan" is not found in the Book of Judges.<ref name= "bedan">{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=Bedan&qs_version=9|title=BibleGateway – Keyword Search: Bedan|website=www.biblegateway.com}}</ref> The name "Samson" is derived from the Hebrew word ''[[shamash|šemeš]]'', which means "sun",<ref name="ppp"/><ref name= VanderToorn /><ref name="Mobley2006" /> so that Samson bore the name of God, who is called "a sun and shield" in {{Bibleverse |Psalms|84:12|HE}};<ref name="ppp"/> and as God protected Israel, so did Samson watch over it in his generation, judging the people even as did God.<ref name="ppp"/> Samson's strength was divinely derived (Talmud, Tractate Sotah 10a).<ref name= "ppp"/><ref>''[[Midrash Genesis Rabbah]]'' xcviii. 18</ref>

Jewish legend records that Samson's shoulders were sixty cubits broad.<ref name="ppp"/> Many Talmudic commentaries, however, explain that this is not to be taken literally, for a person that size could not live normally in society;  rather, it means that he had the ability to carry a burden 60 cubits wide (approximately 30 meters) on his shoulders.<ref>Ben Yehoyada and Maharal, in commentary to Talmud, tractate "sotah" 10a</ref> He was lame in both feet<ref>Talmud tractate ''Sotah'' 10a: "And [[Johanan bar Nappaha|Rabbi Yoḥanan]] says: [[Balaam]] was lame in one of his legs, as it is stated with regard to him: 'And he went, limping [''shefi'']'. Samson was lame in both of his two legs, as it is stated "a horned snake [''shefifon''] in the path' (Genesis 49:17)"</ref> but, when the spirit of God came upon him, he could step with one stride from [[Zorah]] to [[Eshtaol]], while the hairs of his head arose and clashed against one another so that they could be heard for a like distance.<ref name="ppp"/><ref name = Midrash>''Midrash [[Leviticus Rabbah]]'' viii. 2</ref> Samson was said to be so strong that he could uplift two mountains and rub them together like two [[wikt:clod|clod]]s of earth,<ref name = Midrash /><ref>''Sotah'' 9b.</ref> yet his superhuman strength, like [[Goliath]]'s, brought woe upon its possessor.<ref name="ppp"/><ref>''Midrash [[Eccl. Rabbah]]'' i., end</ref>

In licentiousness, he is compared with [[Amnon]] and [[Zimri (prince)|Zimri]], both of whom were punished for their sins.<ref name="ppp"/><ref>''[[Leviticus Rabbah]]''. xxiii. 9</ref> Samson's eyes were put out because he had "followed them" too often.<ref name="ppp"/><ref name="Sotah l.c">''Sotah'' l.c.</ref> (As his eyes led him astray by lust, this was the reason he was blinded.)<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.aish.com/tp/i/moha/48960031.html| title = The Eleventh Plague footnote 12 "...'I am the Lord' implies: I am He who inflicted punishment upon Samson, Amnon, and Zimri, and who will inflict punishment upon any one who will act in accordance with their practices..."| date = 24 June 2009}}</ref> It is said that, in the twenty years during which Samson judged Israel, he never required the least service from an Israelite,<ref>''Midrash [[Numbers Rabbah]]'' ix. 25</ref> and he piously refrained from taking the name of God in vain.<ref name="ppp"/> Therefore, as soon as he told Delilah that he was a Nazarite of God, she immediately knew that he had spoken the truth.<ref name="ppp"/><ref name="Sotah l.c"/> When he pulled down the temple of Dagon and killed himself and the Philistines, the structure fell backward so that he was not crushed, his family being thus enabled to find his body and to bury it in the tomb of his father.<ref name="ppp"/><ref>''Midrash [[Genesis Rabbah]]'' l.c. § 19</ref>

In the Talmudic period, some seem to have denied that Samson was a historical figure, regarding him instead as a purely mythological personage. This was viewed as heretical by the rabbis of the Talmud, and they attempted to refute this. They named [[Hazzelelponi]] as his mother in [[Numbers Rabbah]] [[Naso (parsha)|Naso]] 10 and in [[Bava Batra]] 91a and stated that he had a sister named "Nishyan" or "Nashyan".<ref name="ppp"/>