Judges 13 - Introduction

Judges 13:1 to Judges 16:31. The story of Samson

Samson's birth, 13; his marriage at Timnah and exploits against the Philistines, 14 15; his adventures at Gaza, followed by his intercourse with Delilah the cause of his ruin and death, 16. Unlike the preceding Chapter s, the present narrative is not constructed from various sources, though ch. 14 has undergone revision (Judges 13:3; Judges 13:8; Judges 13:10), and in a less degree ch. 13 (Judges 13:19; Judges 13:23); it is reasonable to suppose that the account of Samson's birth, like that of Samuel's birth and consecration, came into existence later than the other stories, after the hero had become famous. To the Deuteronomic editor are due the brief additions (Judges 13:1; Judges 15:20; Judges 16:31 b) which give to Samson the character of a Judge, as being a foremost champion against the enemies of God. Those who trace in Judges the continuation of the Pentateuchal documents assign these Chapter s to J; at any rate they belong to the oldest stratum of the book, and come from the heart of old Israelite life. Samson is just the hero whom the country people would love; his feats of strength, his success with women, his doughty deeds, his tricks, his grim humour, his tragic end, lived on the lips of story-tellers before they were written down; it is folk-lore undisguised, innocent of all effort to be reflective or edifying. Samson is no leader of men, like Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah; he does nothing to rally his tribesmen against a common enemy; he acts simply on his own account. The story has its religious features, quite in keeping with its popular character; the hero wears his hair long in token of a vow of consecration (Judges 13:5; Judges 13:7; Judges 16:17); when he desires to put forth his strength the spirit of Jehovah comes mightily upon him (Judges 13:25; Judges 14:6; Judges 14:19); twice in desperate straits he cries to Jehovah (Judges 15:18; Judges 16:28). The religious element comes out most clearly in ch. 13, which, as noted above, may be later in origin than chs. 14 16.

It was the period of the Philistine domination (Judges 14:4; Judges 15:11 f.). The southern Israelites appear to have become more or less reconciled to their loss of independence; they took advantage of the rights of connubiumand commercium(Judges 14:1; Judges 14:3; Judges 14:10 f., Judges 16:1); and though the story implies that the Philistines were regarded as natural enemies (Judges 14:4), nothing like a general rising was in contemplation; in fact the Judaeans behaved as if they cared more for the favour of their overlords than for the rescue of their fellow-countryman (Judges 15:11-13). On the Philistine side we hear of no hostile movement; Samson's exploits were private acts of aggression; and when the Philistines were finally roused, it was to retaliate not upon the Israelites but upon their archenemy (Judges 15:9-10). Thus the story of Samson, and probably that of Shamgar too (see on Judges 3:31), belongs to the period which immediately precedes the actively hostile advance of the Philistines recorded in 1 Samuel. Samson has been compared to one of the Greek heroes, whose deeds of prowess formed the prelude to a war of independence.

The name of the hero (Shimshon= -solar," from shemesh= -sun") and some of his feats and characteristics have led many to think that the stories grew out of a solar myth, and that Samson was originally a Canaanite sun-god. The theory can be made to look plausible 1 [47]. Even early commentators thought of a comparison with Herakles, and attempts have been made to discover twelve -labours." It is only an artificial ingenuity, however, which can apply in detail the theory of a solar myth. The stories are more naturally explained as popular tales or folk-lore, coloured here and there, it may be granted, by solar mythology, e.g. Judges 15:4-5; Judges 16:13. A connexion between the story of Samson and the Babyl onian Gilgămesh Epic is maintained by several modern scholars (e.g. Jastrow, Rel. of Babyl. and Assyr.(1898), 515 f.; Schrader, KAT. 582; A. Jeremias, Das A. T. im Lichte d. Alt. Or.2 1906, 482); but when closely examined the alleged resemblances are questionable. The scene of a hero mastering a lion represented on some ancient Bab. seal-cylinders (see A. Jeremias, l.c. 266 f., Ball, Light from the East, 44 f.) does not necessarily refer to the exploits of Gilgămesh, and only remotely illustrates those of Samson.

[47] E.g. recently by Ed. Meyer, Die Israeliten, p. 527 f., and, with some modifications, by Stahn, Die Simson-Sage, 1908.