The Strongman Judge of the Book of Judges
The Book of Judges records that Samson was a "Nazirite" from birth, never to cut his hair, given extraordinary strength by God to fight the Philistines who oppressed Israel in his day. His story interweaves divine strength and human weakness — infatuated with the Philistine woman Delilah, he revealed the secret of his strength, lost his power when his hair was cut, had his eyes gouged out and was set to grind at a mill, and at last, before his death, prayed for God to restore his strength and pulled down the pillars of the Philistine temple, dying with his enemies.
On his way to the land of the Philistines, a young lion roared and sprang at Samson, and though unarmed he tore it apart "as one tears a young goat," and later found a swarm of bees and honey in the lion’s carcass and ate of it, from which he made a riddle to test the Philistines.
The Philistine lords bribed Delilah, the woman Samson loved, to coax out the source of his strength; Samson lied and put her off again and again, but at last, worn down by her pressing, told the truth — that if his hair were shaved, his strength would leave him. Delilah shaved his head as he slept, and the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. "Delilah" became a byword in Western languages for using beauty to extract a secret and bring about betrayal.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
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