Mysteries of the Bible TV - Daniel Smith Christopher - Samuel & Delilah 1984 - John Milton - Judges 13:3-5 - Judges 13:24&25 - Judges 14:1-6 - Judges 14:8&9 - Judges 14:19&20 - Judges 15:4&5 - Judges 15:7&8 - Judges 15:14&19 - Judges 16:4-6 - Judges 16:17 - Judges 16:21 - Judges 16:27-30
In Biblical times the warrior-like Philistines are an implacable enemy. Their champion, Goliath, wrecks terror upon the people of Israel. And even mighty Samson falls victim to their brutality. They capture the sacred Ark of the Covenant ... Where did the Philistines come from? Mysteries of the Bible s2e4: Arch Enemy: The Philistines, A&E 1995
Is he merely a violent man driven by a thirst for adventure and sex? Or does he play a divinely inspired role? Mysteries of the Bible s5e7: Samson and Delilah
Samson’s wedding feast turns into a bloodbath. ibid.
The strength motif of Samson is so strong that some scholars have suspected that perhaps there has been some influence from the Greek stories of Hercules. Dr Daniel Smith Christopher, Layola Marymount University
She does please you, doesn’t she? Samson & Delilah 1984 starring Max von Sydow & Belinda Bauer & Angelica Aragon & David Byrd & Stephen Macht & Victor Mature & Antony Hamilton & Daniel Stern & Clive Revill & Jennifer Holmes et al, director Lee Philips, bloke to Samson
Would you have me betray my husband? ibid. wife of Samson
They must all be killed or driven into the sea. ibid. Sidka
Oh God in Heaven! Speak to me! I am yours to command. Speak! ibid. Samson
Ask for this great deliverer now, and find him
Eyeless in Gaza at the mill with slaves. John Milton, Samson Agonistes, 1671
O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon,
Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse
Without all hope of day! ibid. l80
The sun to me is dark
And silent as the moon,
When she deserts the night
Hid in her vacant interlunar cave. ibid. l86
To live a life half dead, a living death. ibid. l100
Just are the ways of God,
And justifiable to men;
Unless there be who think not God at all. ibid. l293
Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power,
After offence returning, to regain
Love once possessed. ibid. l1003
Love-quarrels oft in pleasing concord end. ibid. l1008
Samson hath quit himself
Like Samson, and heroically hath finished
A life heroic. ibid. l1709
And calm of mind, all passion spent. ibid. l1758
And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Judges 13:3-5
And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.
And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol. Judges 13:24&25
And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.
And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done. Judges 14:1-6
And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion.
And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion. Judges 14:8&9
And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father’s house.
But Samson’s wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend. Judges 14:19&20
And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.
And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives. Judges 15:4&5
And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.
And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam. Judges 15:7&8
And when he [Samson] came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.
But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day. Judges 15:14&19
And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.
And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. Judges 16:4-6
That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. Judges 16:17
But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. Judges 16:21
Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.
And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.
And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.
And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. Judges 16:27-30