Samson and Delilah Around the 12th century BC This story happened a long time ago, a long time ago, so long ago that there are doubts - was it really? But there will also be those who believe in it, for it is written in the Old Testament, and those who are confident that the historical Samson and Delilah lived

Samson Samson is the hero of the Old Testament traditions. In Hebrew, the name Samson presumably means "servant" or "sunny." He became famous for his extraordinary physical strength. Samson was the son of Manoah of the tribe of Dan. Manoj and his wife

Samson and Delilah Samson and Delilah 1949 - USA (131 min)? Prod. PAR (Cecil B. DeMille) Dir. CECIL B. DEMILL Scene. Jesse Lasky Jr. and Fredrik M. Frank based on a synopsis by Herold Lam based on the Bible (Book of Judges, 13-16) and Vladimir (Zeev) Jabotinsky's novel Samson of Nazareth Oper.

Dyakova Elena

Samson

Summary of the myth

Samson(Heb. Shimshon) - the famous biblical Judge-hero, famous for his exploits in the fight against the Philistines.

FROM amson, lat. Samson, Shimshon (Heb. presumably "servant" or "solar"), the hero of the Old Testament traditions, endowed with unprecedented physical strength; the twelfth of the "judges of Israel". A son Manoya from the tribe of Dan, from the city of Zorah. The birth of Samson, who is destined to "save Israel from the hand of the Philistines", is predicted by an angel to Mano and his wife, who had been childless for a long time.

Thanks to this, Samson is elected to serve God "from the womb", and the command is given - to prepare the child for life-long Nazariteship (a vow that consisted in observing ritual purity and abstaining from wine in order to fully dedicate oneself to God). From childhood, at the decisive moments of his life, the “spirit of the Lord” descends on Samson, giving him miraculous power, with the help of which Samson overcomes any enemies. All his actions have a hidden meaning, incomprehensible to others. So, a young man, against the will of his parents, decides to marry a Philistine woman. At the same time, he is guided by a secret desire to find an opportunity to take revenge on the Philistines. On the way to Thimnatha, where Samson's bride lived, a young lion attacks him, but Samson, filled with the "spirit of the Lord", tears him apart like a kid.

Fragment of slate bas-relief
"Samson tears the lion's mouth"

Later, Samson finds a swarm of bees in the corpse of this lion and saturates himself with honey from there. This gives him a reason to ask thirty Philistines - "marriage friends" - an unsolvable riddle at the wedding feast:

“Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.” Samson bet thirty shirts and thirty changes of clothes that the marriage friends would not find a clue, and they, having come up with nothing in the seven days of the feast, threatened Samson's wife that they would burn her house if he "wrap them up." Yielding to the requests of his wife, Samson tells her the answer - and immediately hears it from the lips of the Philistines: "What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion?"

Samson Riddles at a Wedding
1638, Rembrandt

Then, carrying out the first act of his revenge, Samson strikes thirty Philistine warriors and gives their clothes to his married friends. Samson's anger and his return to Tzor are regarded by his wife as a divorce, and she marries one of her marriage friends. This serves as a pretext for a new act of revenge on the Philistines: having caught three hundred foxes, Samson ties them in pairs with their tails, ties burning torches to them and releases the Philistines into the harvest, putting the entire crop on fire. For this, the Philistines burn Samson's wife and her father, and in response to Samson's new attack, the whole Philistine army invades Judea. Three thousand Jewish envoys ask him to surrender to the Philistines and thereby avert the threat of devastation from Judea. Samson allows them to tie themselves up and hand them over to the Philistines. However, in the camp of the enemies, "the spirit of the Lord descended on him, and the ropes ... fell ... from his hands." Immediately, Samson, raising a donkey's jaw from the ground, strikes a thousand Philistine soldiers with it. After the battle, at the prayer of Samson, who was exhausted from thirst, a spring breaks out of the earth, which received the name "the source of the caller", and the whole area, in honor of the battle, was named Ramat-Lehi. After these exploits, Samson is popularly elected "Judge of Israel" and rules for twenty years.

Samson and Delilah. Anthony Van Dyck

The culprit of Samson's death is his beloved, the Philistine Delilah from the Sorek Valley. Bribed by the “Philistine rulers”, she tries three times to find out from Samson the source of his miraculous power, but Samson deceives her three times, saying that he will become powerless if he is tied with seven damp bowstrings, or entangled with new ropes, or his hair is stuck in cloth. At night, Delilah does all this, but Samson, waking up, easily breaks any bonds. Finally, tired of Delilah’s reproaches of dislike and distrust of her, Samson “revealed all his heart to her”: he is a Nazarite of God from the womb of his mother, and if you cut his hair, the vow will be broken, his strength will leave him and he will become, “like other people ".

At night, the Philistines cut off the “seven braids of the head” of the sleeping Samson, and, waking up to the cry of Delilah: “The Philistines are at you, Samson!”, He feels that strength has receded from him. Enemies blind him, put him in chains and make him turn the millstones in the dungeon of Gaza.

Meanwhile, his hair is gradually growing back. To enjoy the humiliation of Samson, the Philistines bring him to the temple for a feast Dagon and forced to "amuse" the audience. Samson asks the lad to lead him to the central pillars of the temple in order to lean on them. Having offered up a prayer to God, Samson, having regained strength, moves the two middle pillars of the temple from their place and with the exclamation “May my soul die with the Philistines!” collapses the entire building on those gathered, killing more enemies in the moment of his death than in a lifetime.

Images and symbols of myth

Blinding of Samson. Rembrandt. 1636

The image of Samson is typologically compared with such epic heroes as the Sumerian-Akkadian Gilgamesh, the Greek Hercules and Orion, etc. Like them, Samson has supernatural power, performs heroic deeds, including engaging in single combat with a lion. The loss of miraculous power (or death) as a result of female deceit is also characteristic of a number of epic heroes. The biblical story of Samson reveals a combination of heroic-mythological and fairy-tale elements with historical narrative. The historical image of the “judge”, which was Samson, is enriched with folklore and mythological motifs that go back to astral myths, in particular, to sun mythology(the name "Samson" - literally `sunny`, "braids of his head" - Sun rays, without which the sun loses its power).

Hair, of course, the main symbol of the myth. It is a symbol of the life force endowed by the hero of the myth. Hair was considered the seat of the soul or magical power. To lose hair meant to lose strength. Raising the issue of wearing long hair, it is considered possible to explain this by two reasons: 1) fear for the troubles that can happen to cut hair and thereby damage a person and 2) the sacredness of the head, in which a special occipital spirit lives and fear of careless handling of hair hurt him; “Hair is seen as something like the dwelling or seat of the god, so that if it is cut off, the god loses the dwelling he has in the person of the priest,” he says.

A lion. Symbol of power. No wonder the lion is considered the king of animals. The lion was a common image of Israel's enemies. The Spirit came upon Samson and he defeated the lion, which was to tell him that he could actually deliver Israel from the Philistines.

Communicative means of creating images and symbols

Death of Samson. Schnorr von Karolsfeld

The biblical story about Samson is one of the favorite themes in art and literature since the Renaissance (the tragedy of Hans Sachs "Samson", 1556, and a number of other plays). The theme gained particular popularity in the 17th century, especially among the Protestants, who used the image of Samson as a symbol of their struggle against the power of the pope. The most significant work created in this century is J. Milton's drama Samson the Wrestler. Among the works of the 18th century. It should be noted: a poem by W. Blake (1783), a verse play by M. H. Luzzatto “Shimshon ve-ha-plishtim” (“Samson and the Philistines”). this topic was addressed by A. Carino (circa 1820), Mihai Tempa (1863), A. de Vigny (1864); in the 20th century F. Wedekind, S. Lange, as well as Jewish writers: V. Zhabotinsky (“Samson the Nazarene”, 1927, in Russian; republished by the Library-Aliya publishing house, Jer., 1990); Lea Goldberg ("Ahavat Shimshon" - "Samson's Love", 1951-52) and others.

In the visual arts, the following subjects were most fully embodied: Samson tearing apart a lion (engraving by A. Dürer, a statue for the Peterhof fountain by M. I. Kozlovsky, etc.), Samson's struggle with the Philistines (sculptures by Pierino da Vinci, J. Bologna), betrayal Delilah (paintings by A. Mantegna, A. van Dyck and others), the heroic death of Samson (mosaic of the Church of St. Gereon in Cologne, 12th century, bas-relief of the Lower Church in Pec, 12th century, Hungary, bas-relief of B. Bellano, etc. .). All the main events of Samson's life were reflected in his work by Rembrandt ("Samson asks a riddle at the feast", "Samson and Delilah", "Blinding of Samson", etc.). Among the works fiction the most significant dramatic poem by J. Milton "Samson the Fighter", among the musical and dramatic works - the oratorio "Samson" by G. F. Handel and the opera "Samson and Delilah" by C. K. Saint-Saens.

sculptural
fountain group
"Samson"

In music, Samson's plot is reflected in a number of oratorios by composers from Italy (Veracini, 1695; A. Scarlatti, 1696, and others), France (J. F. Rameau, opera to Voltaire's libretto, 1732), Germany (G. F. Handel based on drama J. Milton wrote the oratorio "Samson", premiered at the theater "Covent Garden" in 1744). The most popular opera by the French composer C. Saint-Saens "Samson and Delilah" (premiered in 1877).

The most famous monument of St. Petersburg "Samson tearing apart the mouth of a lion" is the most spectacular composition of the Grand Cascade. A jet of water rises up to 21 meters. The pedestal is a three-meter granite rock.

The sculptural group of the fountain "Samson" is an allegory of Russia's victory over Sweden near Poltava. A month after the legendary battle, Peter I was first compared with Samson, which was also explained by the fact that the Battle of Poltava took place on the day of this saint - June 27. Since then, the image of Samson has become one of the most common symbols of the Russian army and Peter I. Sweden and its king Charles XII were displayed in the form of a lion, the image of which was present on the state emblem of Sweden.

The fountain "Samson" was installed in Peterhof in 1735 on the 25th anniversary of the great historical event. The group was originally cast in lead by B.K. Rastrelli, the creator of one of the best monuments to Peter I in St. Petersburg.

Samson and Delilah
Artus Quellinus the Elder

In 1801, the monumental group was replaced by a new one, cast in bronze according to the model of the outstanding Russian sculptor - M. Kozlovsky, who made some changes, while retaining the original design and composition. In the same year, according to the project of A. Voronikhin, work was underway on the construction of a new pedestal of the fountain, in which niches were arranged from which gilded lion heads peeped out.

During the occupation of Peterhof, the sculptural group "Samson tearing apart the mouth of a lion" was stolen and, in all likelihood, destroyed. On the basis of pre-war photographs and sketches by M. Kozlovsky, the sculpture was restored and cast in bronze. And in 1947, "Samson", already the third in a row, took its historical place at the foot of the Grand Cascade, making up with it a single artistic and compositional core of the entire Lower Park of Peterhof.

The social significance of the myth

Christian theologians, interpreting the Book of Judges, emphasize on the example of Delilah the significance of the struggle with carnal passion. The loss of vitality as a result of female deceit is inherent in many mythological heroes. This shows that it is not always worth trusting even close people.

The myth of Samson can teach us how to fight Evil, he is a fighter for justice. Samson helps his people get rid of the Israeli yoke, which shows his dedication.

It so happened that the Israelites, stronger than all other nations, were oppressed by the Philistines. The Philistines were warlike and strong, lived in fortified cities by the sea and were a real danger. They raided the Israelites, took their property for themselves, destroyed entire villages, all this went on for forty years.

The Lord, seeing this, sent Samson the strong man to his people. Samson's mother did not have children for a long time, but one day someone told her that she would give birth to a son. Before the birth of the child, she had to lead a particularly pious lifestyle, not drinking wine and not eating pork. After the birth of a child, he was not allowed to cut his hair, the knife should not touch his head, because the child will be dedicated to God.

Samson's mother was surprised and told her husband about this phenomenon, the husband asked the guest who reported this news to enter the house, but he refused, and Samson's father ordered to sacrifice a goat to the Lord. The flame above the altar carried away a mysterious messenger into the sky… It was the Angel of the Lord.

Samson really grew incredibly strong and once defeated a lion that attacked him with his bare hands. He protected the Israelites from the Philistine raids, but he himself fell in love with the young Philistine Delilah and married her. At the wedding, Samson asked those present a riddle that the Philistines could not solve and sent his wife to him with a request to tell the answer. After the wife found out the answer, she immediately told it to her compatriots. Samson got angry and punished 30 Philistines. Thus began their 20-year confrontation. The Philistines, dreaming of defeating Samson, came to Delilah and promised her much silver coins if she learns the secret of Samson's extraordinary strength.

Delilah, who had never known such wealth, betrayed her lover and asked how to defeat him. Samson told Delilah that if he was tied with new damp ropes, he would not break free. Delilah did just that when Samson fell asleep and woke him up, exclaiming “Samson! The Philistines are coming at you." Samson got up and broke the ropes. Delilah realized that she had been deceived and asked again to reveal the secret. Then Samson said that if only his hair was woven into a cloth and nailed to the log, he would lose his strength. Delilah did just that when Samson fell asleep again. Samson was able to free himself again.

Angry, Delilah threatened Samson that she would leave him if he did not tell the truth, and Samson was forced to admit that the strength lies in his hair.

How can you say: “I love you”, but your heart is not with me? Behold, you deceived me three times, and did not tell me what is your great power.

And as she weighed him down with her words every day and tormented him, his soul became heavy to death. And he opened his whole heart to her, and said to her:

The razor did not touch my head, for I am a Nazarite of God from my mother's womb; but if you cut me, my strength will depart from me; I will become weak and be like other people.

Delilah, seeing that he had opened his whole heart to her, sent and called the owners of the Philistines, saying to them:

Go now; he opened his whole heart to me.

Then Delilah made Samson drunk with wine and called the Philistines, who cut off seven braids from Samson's head. Delilah received the promised payment, and Samson was captured, tortured, gouged out his eyes and thrown into prison, where he was forced to turn the millstones that grind the grain.

Once the Philistines gathered for a feast in honor of the pagan god Dagon. Cheered up, they asked to bring a blind strong man to mock him. But Samson's hair had already grown by that time. Having quietly prayed for his strength to return, Samson, exclaiming "die, my soul, with the Philistines," brought down the roof of the house. Under the rubble, he himself died along with the Philistines who tortured him.

The legend of Samson and Delilah: interpretation

The story of Samson and Delilah teaches us a lot, and it's not just about:

• betrayal;
• disappointment;
• Pain;

Samson began to resist the Philistines not only to protect the Israelites, personal grievances moved him and his physical blindness became a symbol of spiritual blindness and loss of orientation. The power that the Lord gave him to protect him from enemies, Samson used for other purposes. The story of Samson and Delilah is the story of the eternal struggle between good and evil for the soul of man.

L. Giordano "Samson and Delilah"

Historical facts

It is known that the Philistines in those days did indeed raid the Israelites.

Yogi Bhajan was a wealthy Indian immigrant who introduced Kundalini Yoga to the US. On the issue of haircuts, he spoke something like this:

“Our haircut may follow fashion, but by cutting our hair we deprive ourselves of an essential source of vitality. When we allow the scalp hair to reach its full length and maturity, phosphorus, calcium, vitamin D and all derivatives enter the lymphatic fluid and then the cerebrospinal fluid through two channels in the upper part of the brain. This ionic change creates a more efficient memory and results in more physical energy, improved stamina and patience... Your hair in its place is not by mistake. They have a definite purpose, which the saints will discover and other people will ridicule."

Most of us have heard of the mythical strongman Samson, who lost his strength along with the loss of his hair. Even today, some cultures maintain the tradition of never cutting their hair. In some cultures, this is due to religious beliefs. Sikhs can be one example. Some Christian groups, such as the Pentecostals (Pentacostals), refrain from cutting their hair as a sign of respect for literal interpretations of the Bible. Orthodox Jewish men never cut their hair on the sides of their heads, and Rastafarians never cut their dreadlocks. Many Indian men, especially before modern times, never cut their hair. Today we just want to ask... Why?

Many bands have their own distinctive style. Often rival tribes have different haircuts and dress styles. But today we are not talking about style preferences and differences. We want to explore the cultural roots of people who firmly believe in the power of their hair. Quite a few people believe that hair length has a direct, physical, measurable connection with their health, strength, talent, and wisdom.

Yogi Bhajan put forward the claim that hair is involved in metabolism and is a living part of the human body. This is easy to refute even by superficial observation. Keratin hair does not have channels for transporting any of the nutrients described by the gurus. It is easy to examine a cross section of a hair under a microscope, revealing solid cells with no signs of life. They are neatly tucked into a beautiful fiber at the root of the hair, but they are dead. Human hair does not have the ability to take part in metabolism or another process. Yogi Bhajan didn't say that the hair delivers some mystical unknown flow of energy, he said that it transports physical substances such as vitamins and minerals. This is mistake. Any suitable method of research can be applied, but Yogi Bhajan did not understand what he was talking about at all.

His followers say that after 3 years of growth, the hair follicles develop antennas at the ends of the hair that collect cosmic energy, thus dooming a haircut to a 3 year magnetism drought. This is all childishly stupid. Some of the cultures must have more compelling justifications, what are they?

One of the most popular legends of our time has been copied by many websites, the author has not been able to find out the source. This story is about Native American trackers who were recruited for the Vietnam War, but having cut their hair like all soldiers, they lost their ability to track and became useless in the war effort. Subsequent testing showed a significant decrease in the effectiveness of shorn pathfinders, who had previously shown very high results. Continuing, the story talks about the abolition of haircuts for Indian Pathfinders and even the refusal of the military who took part in the experiment. The story is rather dubious, to say the least. No citation of such "experiments" was found. The credibility diminishes when you consider how few people in the United States had the opportunity to develop the art of tracking in the 1960s and 1970s, and also when you consider how significant the differences between the Vietnamese jungle and the American Southwest are.

Thus, the story about the relationship between tracker skills and hair length does not hold up to scrutiny. But we do know that hair is associated with one familiar sensation, and that is touch. Touch your hair and you will feel what the author is talking about. Hair is an excellent conductor of the sense of touch. That's why so many animals rely on them for sensation. environment, this is one of the benefits of having a mustache. The skin has over 20 classes of sensory nerve cells, some of which detect heat, touch, pain, and so on. Each of our hair follicles is connected to sensory nerves. Given the vastness, complexity, and sensitivity of this system, it seems clear that hair is a very important part of our sensory system. However, only the root of the follicle has sensitivity. If you pull a hair, the signal will be the same for both meter and centimeter hair lengths. In fact, the longer the hair, the less its movement affects the root. Imagine a person with long hair sitting in front of you in a theater. You can twist his hair invisibly. What if the haircut is short? Any touch from the outside will give an immediate signal to the owner. Long hair does not increase the ability to touch.

Our contemporaries endow with mystical powers the habits of antiquity. In the Sikh religion, long hair is left as a sign of respect for the Creator. God created all living things, hair grows, they should not be cut. This practice, called Kesh, is one of the "five K's" for Sikhs. It's pretty simple, and doesn't mean anything more than what it says. However, some modern Sikhs, especially those who came to the religion from outside looking for an alternative to Christianity, interpret Kesh with some New Age meaning, saying that hair is a source of mystical energy. The author has not been able to find an authoritative explanation for this, probably beliefs about the strength of hair, like Samson, are outside of Kesh.

Likewise in Orthodox Judaism. The practice of leaving beards and curls has nothing to do with drawing power, based mainly on the Mishneh Torah. Searching for the source of this practice leads to the conclusion that there is no reason. The reason, rather, is the desire to have an expressive difference from other ethnic groups. Other possible reason, this is communication with the dead through the offering of hair. Refusal to cut hair could mean the rejection of such a practice. But in the history of Judaism there were and are many formalities regarding hair. People of a certain position must have their own type of hairstyle, others must shave on the Sabbath, some every 30 days, and some must have special care for the hair of the head or beard, sometimes only a razor must be used, sometimes only scissors. Hair care in Judaism is much more complicated than: "Orthodox Jews don't cut their hair or shave," but there is no hint of drawing strength or energy from the hair.

Rastafarianism is closest to the belief that hair gives strength, but it is neither an organized religion nor a formed faith. The former king of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, is recognized by the Rastafarians as the second Christ and was known as the Conquering Lion of Judah. The lion has a mane, and Rastafrian wear dreadlocks as a symbol of the lion's mane and respect for Selassie. Some Rastafarians depict Samson with dreadlocks, believing in the power of long hair.

In search of an answer, the author visited the Long Hair forums. It seems that quite a few people care about the length of their hair. Long hair does not give strength, but strong and healthy hair speaks of the health of their owner. Some believe that long hair speaks of the ability to break stereotypes. Some consider them protection. Some believe that long hair gives a masculine look and demonstrates strength. Some consider them a means of self-expression.

With all due respect to Yogi Bhajan, there is no physiological mechanism by which long hair makes a person stronger. Hair is not needed as an antenna for cosmic energy, just as it is not needed in the form of a conductor of vitamins, minerals, solar energy, or something else. A Samson-style hairstyle is not needed for physical strength and health. Health is needed in order to have such hair. There is no need to look for a physiological explanation. People with long hair feel great, as do those with short, curly, red, blue, or no hair at all. To each his own, and each of us makes his own choice, what he likes best.

Samson illustration courtesy of Giovanni.org

Translation Vladimir Maksimenko 2014