The biblical account states that Samson was aNazirite and that he was given immense strength to aid him against his enemies and allow him to perform superhuman feats,[5] including slaying a lion with his bare hands and massacring aPhilistine army with adonkey's jawbone. The cutting of Samson'slong hair would violate his Nazirite vow and nullify his ability.[6]
Samson is betrayed by his loverDelilah, who, sent by Philistine officials to entice him,[7] orders a servant to cut his hair while he is sleeping and turns him over to the Philistines, who gouged out his eyes and forced him to mill grain at Gaza. While there, his hair begins to grow again. When the Philistines take Samson into their temple ofDagon, Samson asks to rest against one of the support pillars. After being granted permission, he prays to God and miraculously recovers his strength, allowing him to bring down the columns – collapsing the temple and killing both himself and the Philistines.
According to the account in theBook of Judges, Samson lived during a time of repeated conflict betweenIsrael andPhilistia, when God was disciplining the Israelites by giving them "into the hand of thePhilistines".[8]Manoah was an Israelite fromZorah, descended from theDanites,[9] andhis wife had been unable to conceive.[10][11] TheAngel of the Lord appears to Manoah's wife and proclaims that the couple would soon have a son who would begin to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines.[12]
The Angel of the Lord states that Manoah's wife was to abstain[13] from allalcoholic drinks,unclean foods, and her promised child was not to shave or cut his hair. He was to be aNazirite from birth. In ancient Israel, those wanting to be especially dedicated to God for a time could take a Nazirite vow which included abstaining from wine and spirits, not cutting hair or shaving, and other requirements.[10][11][12] Manoah's wife believes the Angel of the Lord; her husband was not present, so he prays and asks God to send the messenger once again to teach them how to raise the boy who is going to be born.
After the Angel of the Lord returns, Manoah asks him his name, but he says, "Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding."[14] Manoah then prepares a sacrifice, but the Angel of the Lord will only allow it to be for God. He touches it with his staff, miraculously engulfing it in flames, and then ascends into the sky in the fire. This is such dramatic evidence of the nature of the Messenger that Manoah fears for his life, since it was said that no one could live after seeing God. However, his wife convinces him that, if God planned to slay them, he would never have revealed such things to them. In due time, their son Samson is born, and he is raised according to the angel's instructions.[11][12]
When he is a young adult, Samson leaves the hills of his people to see the cities ofPhilistia. He falls in love with a Philistine woman fromTimnah, whom he decides to marry, ignoring the objections of his parents over the fact that she is not an Israelite.[11][12][15] In the development of the narrative, the intended marriage is shown to be part of God's plan to strike at the Philistines.[12]
According to the biblical account, Samson is repeatedly seized by the "Spirit of the Lord", who blesses him with immense strength. The first instance of this is seen when Samson is on his way to ask for the Philistine woman's hand in marriage, when he is attacked by alion. He simply grabs it and rips it apart, as the spirit of God divinely empowers him. However, Samson keeps it a secret, not even mentioning the miracle to his parents.[12][16][17] He arrives at the Philistine's house and becomes betrothed to her. He returns home, then comes back to Timnah some time later for the wedding. On his way, Samson sees that bees have nested in the carcass of the lion andmade honey.[12][17] He eats a handful of the honey and gives some to his parents.[12]
At the wedding feast,Samson tells a riddle to his thirty groomsmen (all Philistines). If they can solve it, he will give them thirty pieces of fine linen and garments, but if they cannot they must give him thirty pieces of fine linen and garments.[11][12] The riddle is a veiled account of two encounters with the lion, at which only he was present:[12][17]
Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.[18]
The Philistines are infuriated by the riddle.[12] The thirty groomsmen tell Samson's new wife that they will burn her and her father's household if she did not discover the answer to the riddle and tell it to them.[12][17] At the urgent and tearful imploring of his bride, Samson gives her the solution, and she passes it on to the thirty groomsmen.[11][12]
Before sunset on the seventh day, they say to him,
What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion?
Samson replies,
If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.[19]
Samson then travels toAshkelon (a distance of roughly 30 miles) where he strikes down thirty Philistines for their garments; he then returns and gives those garments to his thirty groomsmen.[11][17][20] In a rage, Samson returns to his father's house. The family of his bride instead give her to one of the groomsmen as wife.[11][17] Some time later, Samson returns to Timnah to visit his wife, unaware that she is now married to one of his former groomsmen. But her father refuses to allow Samson to see her, offering to give Samson a younger sister instead.[11]
Samson goes out, gathers 300 foxes, and ties them together in pairs by their tails. He then attaches a burning torch to each pair of foxes' tails and turns them loose in the grain fields and olive groves of the Philistines.[21] The Philistines learn why Samson burned their crops and burn Samson's wife and father-in-law to death in retribution.[11][22]
In revenge, Samson slaughters many Philistines, saying, "I have done to them what they did to me."[11] Samson then takes refuge in a cave in therock of Etam.[11][23] An army of Philistines go to thetribe of Judah and demand that 3,000 men of Judah deliver them Samson.[11][23] With Samson's consent, given on the condition that the Judahites would not kill him themselves, they tie him with two new ropes and are about to hand him over to the Philistines when he breaks free of the ropes.[22][23] Using thejawbone of an ass, he kills 1,000 Philistines.[22][23][24]
Later, Samson travels toGaza, where he sees aprostitute (Hebrew:אִשָּׁ֣ה זוֹנָ֔ה) and visits her.[23] His enemies wait at the gate of the city to ambush him, but he tears the gate from its very hinges and frame and carries it to "the hill that is in front ofHebron".[23]
He then falls in love withDelilah in thevalley of Sorek.[20][22][23][25] The Philistines approach Delilah and induce her with 1,100 pieces of silver to find the secret of Samson's strength so that they can capture their enemy,[23] but Samson refuses to reveal the secret and teases her, telling her that he will lose his strength if he is bound with fresh bowstrings.[23] She does so while he sleeps, but when he wakes up he snaps the strings.[23] She persists, and he tells her that he can be bound with new ropes. She ties him up with new ropes while he sleeps, and he snaps them, too.[23] She asks again, and he says that he can be bound if his locks are woven into a weaver's loom.[23] She weaves them into a loom, but he simply destroys the entire loom and carries it off when he wakes.[23]
Delilah, however, persists and Samson finally capitulates and tells Delilah that God supplies his power because of his consecration to God as aNazirite, symbolized by the fact that a razor has never touched his head and that if his hair is cut off the vow would be broken and he would lose his strength.[26][27][25] Delilah then woos him to sleep "in her lap" and calls for a servant to cut his hair.[20] Samson loses his strength and he is captured by the Philistines, who blind him by gouging out his eyes.[20] They then take him to Gaza, imprison him, and put him to work turning a largemillstone and grinding grain.[23]
According to the biblical narrative, Samson died when he grasped two pillars of the Temple of Dagon and "bowed himself with all his might" (Judges 16:30,KJV). This has been variously interpreted as Samson pushing the pillars apart[28] (left) or pulling them together[29] (right).
One day, the Philistine leaders assemble in a temple for a religious sacrifice toDagon, one of their most important deities, for having delivered Samson into their hands.[23][30] They summon Samson so that people can watch him perform for them. The temple is so crowded that people are even climbing onto the roof to watch – and all the rulers of the entire government of Philistia have gathered there too, some 3,000 people in all.[25][30][31] Samson is led into the temple, and he asks his captors to let him lean against the supporting pillars to rest. However, while in prison his hair had begun to grow again.[32] He prays for strength and God gives him strength to break the pillars, causing the temple to collapse, killing him and the people inside.[33]
After his death, Samson's family recovered his body from the rubble and buried him near the tomb of his father Manoah.[30] Atomb structure which some attribute to Samson and his father stands on the top of the mountain inTel Tzora,[34] although a separate tradition passed down by the travelerIsaac Chelo in 1334 alleges that Samson was buried at the monument known asal-Jārib inSheikh Abū Mezār, a village (now ruin) located nearTel Beit Shemesh.[35] Near the village there used to be shown a hewn rock, known asQal'at al-mafrazah, on whose top and sides are quarried different impressions and thought to be the altar built by Manoah.[35] At the conclusion of Judges 16, it is said that Samson had "judged" Israel for twenty years.[23]
In August 2012, archaeologists fromTel Aviv University announced the discovery of a circular stone seal, approximately 15 mm (0.59 in) in diameter, which was found on the floor of a house at Beth Shemesh and appears to depict a man, possibly long-haired, next to the sketchy depiction of a large animal resembling contemporary images of lions. The seal is dated to the 12th century BCE. According toHaaretz, "excavation directors Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz and Dr. Zvi Lederman of Tel Aviv University say they do not suggest that the human figure on the seal is the biblical Samson. Rather, the geographical proximity to the area where Samson lived, and the time period of the seal, show that a story was being told at the time of a hero who fought a lion, and that the story eventually found its way into the biblical text and onto the seal".[36][37][38] The human figure appears to be unarmed, which would correspond to the Samson story.[39]
Rabbinic literature identifies Samson withBedan,[11] a Judge mentioned bySamuel in his farewell address (1 Samuel 12:11) among the Judges who delivered Israel from their enemies.[40] However, the name "Bedan" is not found in the Book of Judges.[40] The name "Samson" is derived from the Hebrew wordšemeš, which means "sun",[11][1][3] so that Samson bore the name of God, who is called "a sun and shield" inPsalms 84:12;[11] and as God protected Israel, so did Samson watch over it in his generation, judging the people even as did God.[11] Samson's strength was divinely derived (Talmud, Tractate Sotah 10a).[11][41]
Jewish legend records that Samson's shoulders were sixty cubits broad.[11] 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.[42] He was lame in both feet[43] but, when the spirit of God came upon him, he could step with one stride fromZorah toEshtaol, while the hairs of his head arose and clashed against one another so that they could be heard for a like distance.[11][44] Samson was said to be so strong that he could uplift two mountains and rub them together like twoclods of earth,[44][45] yet his superhuman strength, likeGoliath's, brought woe upon its possessor.[11][46]
In licentiousness, he is compared withAmnon andZimri, both of whom were punished for their sins.[11][47] Samson's eyes were put out because he had "followed them" too often.[11][48] (As his eyes led him astray by lust, this was the reason he was blinded.)[49] It is said that, in the twenty years during which Samson judged Israel, he never required the least service from an Israelite,[50] and he piously refrained from taking the name of God in vain.[11] Therefore, as soon as he told Delilah that he was a Nazarite of God, she immediately knew that he had spoken the truth.[11][48] 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.[11][51]
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 namedHazzelelponi as his mother inNumbers RabbahNaso 10 and inBava Batra 91a and stated that he had a sister named "Nishyan" or "Nashyan".[11]
Samson's story has also garnered commentary from aChristian perspective; theEpistle to the Hebrews praises him for his faith.[52]Ambrose, following the portrayal ofJosephus andPseudo-Philo,[53] represents Delilah as a Philistine prostitute,[53] and declares that "men should avoid marriage with those outside the faith, lest, instead of love of one's spouse, there be treachery."[53]Caesarius of Arles interpreted Samson's death as prefiguring thecrucifixion of Jesus,[53] remarking: "Notice here an image of the cross. Samson extends his hands spread out to the two columns as to the two beams of the cross."[53] He also equates Delilah withSatan,[53] whotempted Christ.[53]
Following this trend, more recent Christian commentators have viewed Samson as atype ofJesus Christ, based on similarities between Samson's story and thelife of Jesus in the New Testament.[54] Samson's and Jesus' births were both foretold by angels,[54] who predicted that they would save their people.[54] Samson was born to a barren woman,[54] and Jesus wasborn of a virgin.[54] Samson defeated a lion; Jesus defeated Satan, whom theFirst Epistle of Peter describes as a "roaring lion looking for someone to devour".[55] Samson's betrayal by Delilah has also been compared to Jesus' betrayal byJudas Iscariot; both Delilah and Judas were paid in pieces of silver for their respective deeds.[56]Ebenezer Cobham Brewer notes in hisA Guide to Scripture History: The Old Testament that Samson was "blinded, insulted [and] enslaved" prior to his death, and that Jesus was "blindfolded, insulted, and treated as a slave" prior to his crucifixion.[57] Brewer also compares Samson's death among "the wicked" with Christ being crucified between two thieves.[57]
Islamic 1585–1590 illustration depicting Shamshun, collapsing a pagan temple by pulling away a column
TheQuran and authentichadith never mentions Samson by name and characteristics specifically. However, there are several non-canonical works of Quranexegesis and scholastic traditions among Islamic literature that mention Samson (Arabic:شمشون,romanized: Shamshû̅n), particularly In the study ofTafsir.[58][59]
Al-Tabari andAbu Ishaq al-Tha'labi incorporated the biblical figure of Samson into the Quranic prophetic world.[61] Al-Tabari in particular has given details inHistory of the Prophets and Kings by incorporating biblical narratives with the authority ofIsraʼiliyyat tradition fromWahb ibn Munabbih, that his mother gave birth to him after she made aNazar (vow) to God. Samson lived nearby aPagan society, where he actively raided their settlement alone, armed with a camel's jawbone and always obtained spoils of war from his successful raids. This tradition of Tabari was traced from one of his teacher, Muhammad ibn Hamid ar-Razi. This tradition by Muhammad ibn Hamid also recorded byAl-Dhahabi through the records fromAbu Dawud al-Sijistani,Al-Tirmidhi,Ibn Majah, Tabari, andal-Baghawi. However, al-Dhahabi also reported that the tradition from Muhammad Ibn Hamid were deemed inauthentic or flawed narrator by Hadith experts such as Ya'qub ibn Syaibah andMuhammad al-Bukhari. Furthermore,Ibn Ishaq also criticize the transmitter whose Muhammad ibn Hamid received from, which was Salamah ibn al-Fadl. Ibn Ishaq deemed him as unreliable narrator who were notorious for narrating traditions without stating his sources.[62]
Abu Ishaq al-Tha'labi featured al-Tabari's narration in his tafsir with more extensive details, where theNisba (onomastics) of Samson was "Shamsun ibn Masuh". Furthermore, Abu Ishaq added the raids of Samson against the paganic kingdom were happened for the span of 1,000 month and killed "thousands of infidels", where it became a proverb in the saying "better than a thousand months" for theLaylat al-Qadr (Night of Power) which believed by Muslims as a moment of night where every good deeds and faith observance multiplied for more than 1,000 months.[63]
Some modern academics have interpreted Samson as a solar deity, as ademi-god (such asHercules orEnkidu, among others) somehow enfolded into Jewish religious lore, or as anarchetypicalfolk hero.[65]
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, somecomparative mythologists interpreted Samson as aeuhemerizedsolar deity,[66][67][68][3] arguing that Samson's name is derived from Hebrewšemeš, meaning "Sun",[3][1] and that his long hair might represent the Sun's rays.[3] These solar theorists also pointed out that the legend of Samson is set within the general vicinity ofBeth Shemesh, a village whose name means "Temple of the Sun".[3] They argued that the nameDelilah may have been a wordplay with the Hebrew word for night,layla, which "consumes" the day.[69] Although this hypothesis is still sometimes promoted in scholarly circles,[3] it has generally fallen out of favor due to the superficiality of supporting evidence.[3]
An interpretation far more popular among current scholars holds that Samson is a Hebrew variant of the same international Near Easternfolk hero which inspired the earlier MesopotamianEnkidu and the later Greek Heracles (and, by extension, his RomanHercules adaptation).[70][3][1][4] Heracles and Samson both slew a lion bare-handed (the former killed theNemean lion).[3][1] Likewise, they were both believed to have once been extremely thirsty and drunk water which poured out from a rock,[70] and to have torn down the gates of a city.[70] They were both betrayed by a woman (Heracles byDeianira, Samson by Delilah),[3] who led them to their respective dooms.[3] Both heroes, champions of their respective peoples, die by their own hands:[3] Heracles ends his life on apyre; whereas Samson makes the Philistine temple collapse upon himself and his enemies.[3] In this interpretation, the annunciation of Samson's birth to his mother is acensored account ofdivine conception.[70]
Samson also strongly resemblesShamgar,[3] another hero mentioned in the Book of Judges,[3] who, inJudges 3:31, is described as having slain 600 Philistines with anox-goad.[3]
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.[3] The concept of Samson as a "solar hero" has been described as "an artificial ingenuity".[71] Joan Comay, co-author ofWho'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.[72]
In contrast, James King West considers that the hostilities between the Philistines and Hebrews appear to be of a "purely personal and local sort".[73] He also considers that Samson stories have, in contrast to much of Judges, an "almost total lack of a religious or moral tone".[73]
Conversely, Elon Gilad ofHaaretz writes "some biblical stories are flat-outcautions against marrying foreign women, none more than the story of Samson".[74] 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.[74] He contrasts this with what he sees as a more positive portrayal of intermarriage in theBook of Ruth.[74]
In Arabic language media, the story of Samson's suicide is often described as the firstsuicide attack.[76][77]Multiple writers in English have also interpreted Samson's suicide and the associated killing of thousands of Philistines as asuicide attack, portrayed in a positive light by the text, and compared him to those responsible for theSeptember 11 attacks.[78][79][80][clarification needed]
The story of Samson, as told byJohn Milton inSamson Agonistes, was one of the examples of "Suicide bombers inWestern literature" included in a study byJapanese-born German academicArata Takeda [de].[81][82]Takeda's article was published byContemporary Justice Review.[81]Takeda's other examples wereAjax,The Robbers, andThe Just Assassins.[81][83]He also covered the same concept in his thesis for doctorate from theUniversity of Tübingen.[82]His conclusion that "suicide bombings are not the expressions of specific cultural peculiarities or exclusively religious fanaticisms. Instead, they represent a strategic option of the desperately weak who strategically disguise themselves under the mask of apparent strength, terror, and invincibility".[81][83]
Samson is the emblem ofLungau,Salzburg,[84] and parades in his honor are held annually in ten villages of the Lungau and two villages in the north-westStyria (Austria).[84] During the parade, a young bachelor from the community carries a massive figure made of wood or aluminum said to represent Samson.[84] The tradition, which was first documented in 1635,[84] was entered into the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Austria in 2010.[84][85]
Alleged site of Samson's tomb in the Zorah (Tzora) forest
As an important biblical character, Samson has been referred to in popular culture and depicted in a vast array of films, artwork, and popular literature. Preserved Smith argued thatJohn Milton'scloset dramaSamson Agonistes is anallegory for the downfall of thePuritans and therestoration of the English monarchy[86] in which the blinded and imprisoned Samson represents Milton himself,[86] the "Chosen People" represent the Puritans,[86] and the Philistines represent theEnglish Royalists.[86] The play combines elements ofancient Greek tragedy and biblical narrative.[87] Samson is portrayed as a hero,[88] whose violent actions are mitigated by the righteous cause in whose name they are enacted.[88] The play casts Delilah as an unrepentant, but sympathetic, deceiver[89] and speaks approvingly of thesubjugation of women.[89]
In 1735,George Frideric Handel wrote theoratorioSamson,[90] with alibretto byNewburgh Hamilton, based onSamson Agonistes.[90] The oratorio is almost entirely set inside Samson's prison[90] and Delilah only briefly appears in Part II.[90] In 1877,Camille Saint-Saëns composed the operaSamson and Delilah with a libretto byFerdinand Lemaire in which the entire story of Samson and Delilah is retold.[90] In the libretto, Delilah is portrayed as a seductivefemme fatale,[90] but the music played during her parts invokes sympathy for her.[90] The narrative of Samson and Delilah is retold inindie pop singerRegina Spektor's "Samson" (2002), which includes the lyrics "I cut his hair myself one night / A pair of dull scissors and the yellow light / And he told me that I'd done alright."[91]
Samson has been especially honored inRussian artwork[96] because the Russians defeated the Swedes in theBattle of Poltava on the feast day ofSt. Sampson, whose name ishomophonous with Samson's.[96] The lion slain by Samson was interpreted to represent Sweden, as a result of the lion's placement on theSwedish coat of arms.[96] In 1735, C. B. Rastrelli's bronze statue of Samson slaying the lion was placed in the center of the great cascade of the fountain atPeterhof Palace inSaint Petersburg.[96]
In Arabic language media, the story of Samson's suicide is often described as the firstsuicide attack.[76][77]
In Arabic Samson's dying words differ slightly from the usual Biblical quote.[76][97]In Arabic the expression is phrased differently, as roughly "Against me and my enemies, O Lord!" (Arabic:عليّ وعلى أعدائي يا رب).[76][98]The phrase is a proverb in Arabic, about an attacker's desire to harm his enemy even at the cost of the attacker causing his own death.[99]This expression been used inThe New Arab newspaper to describeRussian nuclear strategy.[97]
Numerous current and historicalmilitary units, pieces of military hardware,operations, and strategies have names have reference the story of Samson, from both formal defense forces and irregular militant groups.Some refer to his strength, or stories during his lifetime.[104][105]However, most military references to Samson refer to his death orhis dying words [he] fromJudges 16:30.[106][107][101][108][109][110]
TheLehi militant group used the story of Samson's death, inJudges 16, in discussions about possible and plannedsuicide attacks, during theirInsurgency in Palestine against the British in the Middle East and Europe. In a meeting about ways to assassinate GeneralEvelyn Barker, the British Army commander inMandatory Palestine, ayoung woman volunteered to carry out the assassination as asuicide bombing.[108][109][110] They refer to it as a "Let my soul die with the Philistines [he]" proposal (Hebrew:תמות נפשי עם פלשתים) as a reference to the words of Samson in (Judges 16:30), or a "Samson option".[106][108][109][110] On that occasion other members of the group allegedly rejected her offer. She also had a physical disability that might have made her unable to carry out the plan the group had in mind.[108][110][109] The Lehi memorialize her among their martyrs and fallen combatants (Hebrew:הללי לח"י), but her cause of death is not described.[109][110][116]Lehi militants, and theIrgun commander, did approve a different suicide operation plan in 1947, The only resulting casualties were one militant from each group, both male and both much younger than the women whose offer was rejected.[101]
The nameOperation Samson orOperation Shimshon (Hebrew:מבצע שמשון,romanized: Mivtsa Shimshon orMivtza Shimshon) has been used, or discussed but rejected, for multiple military or militant plans.[117][118]
Plaque at theJerusalem-Khan railway station about the bombing and the suicide afterwards (Note: 12 April is a misprint, other sources say the night of 21–22 April)
Operation Samson was the name of anuclear weapons plan during theSix-Day War in 1967.[123][124][125]Twenty years later, there was another plan called Operation Shimshon (Hebrew:מבצע שמשון,romanized: Mivtsa Shimshon).[126]The codename was Shimshon (Hebrew: שמשון Romanized: Shimshon) was used by the Israeli militarily for a plan to donate an improvised nuclear weapon or two in Egypt's Sinai desert during theSix-Day War.[127]AttopMount Sinai by helicopter or possibly at the border via improvised nucleartruck bombs.
According to US journalistSeymour Hersh, everything was ready for production at this time save an official order to do so. Israel crossed the nuclear threshold on the eve of the Six-Day War in May 1967.[128]Avner Cohen confirmed some of Hersh's story and revealed further details in a 2017 report published by theWilson Centre think tank.[129]Cohen said that he was attempting to explain the reasons for the outbreak of theSix-Day War.[130][129]In the version told by Hersh, "[Prime Minister Levi] Eshkol, according to a number of Israeli sources, secretly ordered the Dimona [nuclear reactor] scientists to assemble two crude nuclear devices. He placed them under the command of Brigadier GeneralYitzhak Yaakov, the chief of research and development in Israel's Defense Ministry.One official said the operation was referred to as Spider because the nuclear devices were inelegant contraptions with appendages sticking out.The crude atomic bombs were readied for deployment on trucks that could race to the Egyptian border for detonation in the event Arab forces overwhelmed Israeli defenses".[128]
The Israelis had a plan to resort to using nuclear weapons if they were at risk of losing the war. They called the plan "Operation Samson" or "Operation Shimshon" (מבצע שמשון Mivtza Shimshon), the Hebrew name for Samson from the Bible. The Samson plan was to conduct a first test on the battlefield in Egypt. The rushed deployment plan was also partly inspired by a worry that Egypt would try to thwart Israeli attempts to develop fully functional weapons by attacking Israel's nuclear research facility. The deployment plan included detonating a nuclear weapon on the top of Mount Sanai as an intimidating show of force. Israelis improvised multiple never-before-tested devices to deploy in the Sinai. GeneralYitzhak (Yitza) Yaakov was worried that if the plan was used then he and his troops in Egypt would be killed. The plan was not used because Israel managed to avoid losing using only conventional weapons.
In an article titled "Last Secret of the Six-Day War" theNew York Times reported that in the days before the 1967 Six-Day War Israel planned to insert a team of paratroopers by helicopter into theSinai. Their mission was to set up and remotely detonate a nuclear bomb on a mountaintop as a warning to belligerent surrounding states. While outnumbered, Israel effectively eliminated theEgyptian Air Force and occupied the Sinai, winning the war before the test could even be set up. Retired Israeli brigadier general Itzhak Yaakov referred to this operation as the Israeli Samson Option.[131][132]
In May 2025Operation Samson was suggested, and rejected, as a name for the operation that was namedOperation Gideon's Chariots. The reason for rejection was that the plan did not intend that the army would die with the enemy in the way that Samson died with the Philistines he killed.[118]
Samson's Foxes (Hebrew:שועלי שמשון,romanized: Shualey Shimshon) were a military unit formed in 1948, now defunct.The unit's name is derived from the story inJudges 15:4 where Samson is described as having attached torches to the tails of three hundredfoxes, leaving the panicked beasts to run through the fields of thePhilistines, burning all in their wake.[105]
^Comay, Joan; Brownrigg, Ronald (1993).Who's Who in the Bible: The Old Testament and the Apocrypha, The New Testament. New York: Wing Books. pp. Old Testament,316–317.ISBN0-517-32170-X.
^abcdefghijklmComay, Joan; Brownrigg, Ronald (1993).Who's Who in the Bible: The Old Testament and the Apocrypha, The New Testament. New York: Wing Books. pp. Old Testament, 317.ISBN0-517-32170-X.
^abcdComay, Joan; Brownrigg, Ronald (1993).Who's Who in the Bible: The Old Testament and the Apocrypha, The New Testament. New York: Wing Books. pp. Old Testament, 318.ISBN0-517-32170-X.
^abcComay, Joan; Brownrigg, Ronald (1993).Who's Who in the Bible: The Old Testament and the Apocrypha, The New Testament. New York: Wing Books. pp. Old Testament, 319.ISBN0-517-32170-X.
^abBen-Yosef, Sefi[in Hebrew]. "Sar'ah". In Sefi Ben-Yosef (ed.).Israel Guide – Judaea (A useful encyclopedia for the knowledge of the country) (in Hebrew). Vol. 9. Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, in affiliation with the Israel Ministry of Defence. p. 306.OCLC745203905.
^Ben Yehoyada and Maharal, in commentary to Talmud, tractate "sotah" 10a
^Talmud tractateSotah 10a: "AndRabbi 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)"
^abcdefgNewsome, Carol Ann; Ringe, Sharon H.; Lapsley, Jacqueline E., eds. (2012) [1992].Women's Bible Commentary (3rd ed.). Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. p. 139.ISBN978-0664237073.
^abcdeThomson, Edward (1838).Prophecy, Types, And Miracles, The Great Bulwarks of Christianity: Or A Critical Examination And Demonstration of Some of The Evidences By Which The Christian Faith Is Supported. Hatchard & Son. pp. 299–300.ISBN978-0244031282.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^Beasley, Robert C. (2008).101 Portraits of Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures. Signalman.ISBN978-0244031282.
^Ammi Nur Baits (2015)."Benarkah Samson itu Nabi?".konsultasisyariah.com (in Indonesian). Yufid Network. Retrieved4 August 2024.
^Dickinson, Eerik (2001).The development of early Sunnite hadīth criticism: the Taqdima of Ibn Abī Ḥātim al-Rāzī (240/854-327/938). BRILL.ISBN978-90-04-11805-8.
^abWalid Fikr (2018)."شمشون الجبار: ثلاث روايات لبطل واحد" [Samson the Mighty: Three Stories of One Hero].manshoor.com (in Arabic). Retrieved27 August 2024.
^Cooke, George Albert (1913).The Book of Judges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
^Comay, Joan; Brownrigg, Ronald (1993).Who's Who in the Bible: The Old Testament and the Apocrypha, The New Testament. New York: Wing Books. pp. Old Testament, 320.ISBN0-517-32170-X.
^abWest, James King (1971).Introduction to the Old Testament. New York: MacMillan Company. p. 183.
^"Did Samson Commit Suicide?".www.mycufamily.org. 12 April 2023.But the question remains: Did Samson commit suicide or was it an act of self-sacrifice? There Are Four Reasons Why Samson Did Not Commit Suicide…
^abcdKamal Qubaisi (29 July 2010).اكتشاف أثري ينسف حكاية تدمير "شمشون" لمعبد فلسطيني بساعديه – زلزال بقوة 8 درجات دك الهيكل قبل 2900 عام [An archaeological discovery debunks the story of Samson destroying a Palestinian temple with his own hands. An 8.0 magnitude earthquake destroyed the temple 2,900 years ago.].العربية alarabiya.net (in Arabic). Archived fromthe original on 28 June 2025.منذ مئات السنين ونحن نتواتر حكاية "شمشون الجبار" وصديقته دليلة، وشهرته كخارق للقوة قام بتدمير معبد للفلسطينيين بيديه قبل 2900 عام في غزة القديمة، حيث وقف وصرخ "عليّ وعلى أعدائي يا رب" قبل دفعه لعمودين في الهيكل انهار بانهيارهما وتساقطت حجارته عليه وعلى من كان فيه من أعدائه الفلسطينيين، مسجلا بذلك أول عملية انتحارية في التاريخ. [For hundreds of years, we have been hearing the story of “Samson the Mighty” and his girlfriendDelilah, and his fame as a superhuman who destroyed aPhilistine temple with his own hands 2,900 years ago in ancient Gaza, where he stood and cried “Against me and my enemies, O Lord!” before pushing two pillars in the temple, which collapsed and its stones fell on him and his Philistine enemies inside, thus marking the first suicide operation (عملية انتحارية) in history.]
^ab"שמשון היה השאהיד הראשון" שוב היהודים אשמים. העיתונות הערבית חשפה את ההשראה למחבלים המתאבדים: שמשון הגיבור היה המתאבד הראשון בהיסטוריה ["Samson was the first shahid"] (in Hebrew).Al-Ittihad (Emirati newspaper). 27 May 2007 – viaMakor Rishon (with criticism).הכתבה, שפורסמה בעיתון "אל-אתחאד", היוצא לאור באיחוד האמירויות הערביות, תחת הכותרת "פיגועי ההתאבדות החלו ביהודים ולא הסתיימו בקמיקאזה", מתארת את פיגועי ההתאבדות לאורך ההיסטוריה, ומזכירה למשל את הטייסים היפנים ממלחמת העולם השנייה שצללו למותם כדי לפגוע באוניות אמריקניות, את ה"נמרים הטמילים" מסרי-לנקה, ואת המתאבדים הספרדים שפוצצו עצמם במהלך מלחמת האזרחים שפרצה במדינה בשנות ה-30 של המאה שעברה. [The article, published in the newspaper "Al-Ittihad", published in the United Arab Emirates, under the headline "Suicide attacks began with Jews and did not end with kamikazes", describes suicide attacks throughout history, and mentions, for example, the Japanese pilots from World War II who dived to their deaths to hit American ships, the "Tamil Tigers" from Sri Lanka, and the Spanish suicide bombers who blew themselves up during the civil war that broke out in the country in the 1930s.]
^Balint, Benjamin, "Eyeless in Israel: Biblical metaphor and the Jewish state," review ofLion's Honey: The Myth of Samson, by Benji Segal,The Weekly Standard, October 30, 2006, pages 35–36
^abcכל הדרך לגרדום: ימיו האחרונים של מאיר פיינשטיין.Makor Rishon (in Hebrew). 27 July 2017.מאיר פיינשטיין נולד וגדל בירושלים. אם שואלים את אתר הזיכרון הרשמי של חללי צה"ל או את ויקיפדיה, תאריך הלידה שלו הוא 5 באוקטובר 1927. לדברי אחיינו, המועד הנכון הוא יולי 1929.
^abMargalith, O. (1985).Samson's foxes. Vetus Testamentum, 35 (Fasc. 2). pp. 224–229.
^abFromJudges 16:30 – Usually translated as 'Let me die with the Philistines' –"Judges 16: Hebrew - English Bible - Mechon-Mamre".mechon-mamre.org.English: 30 And Samson said: 'Let me die with the Philistines'. And he bent with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead that he slew at his death were more than they that he slew in his life.Hebrew:ל וַיֹּאמֶר שִׁמְשׁוֹן, תָּמוֹת נַפְשִׁי עִם-פְּלִשְׁתִּים, וַיֵּט בְּכֹחַ, וַיִּפֹּל הַבַּיִת עַל-הַסְּרָנִים וְעַל-כָּל-הָעָם אֲשֶׁר-בּוֹ; וַיִּהְיוּ הַמֵּתִים, אֲשֶׁר הֵמִית בְּמוֹתוֹ, רַבִּים, מֵאֲשֶׁר הֵמִית בְּחַיָּיו.
^abcde"Raskin, Fania – Freedom Fighters of Israel Heritage Association". Archived fromthe original on 7 July 2022.Fania then spoke up and volunteered herself. She was sure that for an operation such as this, she would find the strength to stand and walk. "My life is no life anyway" she added. This was a "Let my soul die with the Philistines [he]" proposal, the Samson option. Of course, her suggestion was rejected. Fania Raskin passed away on 20 July 1947, in Jerusalem. She was thirty-one.
^abcdefLehi Peopleלח"י אנשים(PDF) (in Hebrew). Vol. 2. Tel Aviv. 2002. p. 800. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 21 December 2024. Retrieved21 December 2024.כאשר תוכננה התנקשות בגנרל בארקר, מפקד הצבא הבריטי בארץ־ישראל, הועלה רעיון, שבחורה תטייל עם עגלת תינוק, שתתפוצץ כאשר הגנרל יעבור לידה. נשאלה השאלה איך הבחורה תצליח להסתלק לפני ההתפוצצות. כאן התפרצה פניה והציעה את עצמה. בשביל פעולה כזאת, אמרה, היא תמצא כוחות לעמוד וללכת. ״ממילא חיי אינם חיים״, הוסיפה היא התכוונה לפעולת ״תמות נפשי עם פלשתים״. הצעתה נדחתה, כמובן. פניה רסקין הלכה לעולמה ב־-20.7.1947ג׳ מנחם אב תש״ז, בירושלים והיא בת 31{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^abcdefרסקין פַניה – "מרגלית" – העמותה להנצחת מורשת לח״י (in Hebrew).הנצחה באנדרטה ביער לח"י במשמר איילון … שמה של פניה רסקין חרוט על לוח באנדרטה ביער לח"י [Commemoration at the monument in the Lehi Forest in Mishmar Ayalon … Fania Raskin's name is engraved on a plaque at the Lehi Forest memorial.] – Description: In the close up image, her name is the last on the list, with her Hebrew alias in bracketsHebrew:פניה רסקין (מרגלית),romanized: Fania Raskin (Margalit).
^Klein 2022 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFKlein2022 (help):Hebrew:תמות נפשי עם פלשתים — ברזני ופינשטיין עירקי ואשכנזי ישבו ביחד בתא הנידונים למוות וחיכו בשלווה ליום מותם. איש לח"י אליעזר בן עמי העלה את רעיון שמשון תמות נפשי עם בריטים. והכין לשניים תפוז נפץ כדי שביום התלייה גם התליינים יתפוצצו.,lit.'My soul will die with the Philistines — Barzani and Feinstein, Iraqi and Ashkenazi, sat together in the death row cell and calmly awaited the day of their death. A Lehi member,Eliezer Ben-Ami [he], came up with the idea of Samson dying with the British, and he prepared an explosive orange for the two of them so that on the day of the hanging, the executioners would also explode.'
^"HANGMAN DEFEATED BY CONDEMNED MEN IN PALESTINE".Grey River Argus. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 23 April 1947. p. 5. Archived fromthe original on 9 May 2025.The Jewish terrorists Feinstein and Barazini were to have been executed at dawn to-day. However, they blew themselves to pieces shortly before midnight. The two men occupied the same cell. They were visited byRabbi Jacob Goldman [he], Jewish chaplain to prisons, and he administered to them the last rites. Tile men committed suicide shortly after he left. Rabbi Goldman was immediately taken tothe police headquarters. Feinstein and Barazini are reported to have inscribed the Biblical words, "Mene! Mene! Tekel Upharsin!" on the walls of their ceil before killing themselves with hand grenades. The words quoted are those mentioned in theBook of Daniel,chapter five, verse twenty-five.
^"SUICIDE OF TWO CONDEMNED JEW TERRORISTS".Daily Mercury. trove.nla.gov.au. 23 April 1947. Archived fromthe original on 29 December 2024.the two Jewish condemned terrorists, Meyer Feinstein andMoshe Barazani, who were to have been executed before dawn to-day, committed suicide in Jerusalem central prison to-night by blowing themselves to pieces … TheBritish United Press representative states that Feinstein and Barazani are reported to have in scribed the Biblical words, "Mene, Mene, Tekel Uphaisin" on the walls of their cells before killing themselves. The words quoted are mentioned In the Book ofDaniel, chapter 5, verse 25.
^"The writing on the wall".The Jerusalem Post. 19 April 2007. Archived fromthe original on 16 October 2021.They received a note from underground members about a plan to take their own lives while killing some British policemen during the moments preceding the hanging. It was termed "Operation Shimshon" after the biblical Samson who brought down with him the crowdedPhilistine temple, claiming "let me die with the Philistines [he]". Barazani and Feinstein were eager to carry out the plan.
Kikar HaShabbat (website) –https://www.kikar.co.il/israel-news/skxtpr "Already on the eve of the Six-Day War in June 1967, when Israel feared for its fate, it quickly assembled an improvised nuclear device and threatened to activate it, according to researcher Dr. Avner Cohen. (Haaretz, "Dayan's Dilemma", 6.4.2017) This was the first hint of "Operation Samson"[1] - a scenario in which Israel activates its nuclear weapons as a last resort, in the sense of 'let my soul die with the Philistines'." That footnote explains the name Samson, "[1] 'Samson's Choice' is a code name for the event that Israel decides to use an atomic bomb. The analogy of the authors of the name is, of course, after Samson, the hero-judge (and Messiah of his generation) who pulled down the pillars of the temple of the god Dagon in Gaza, and on the day of his death killed more than in his entire life, as he wrote: 'My soul shall die with the Philistines'."
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