Is Samson a hero or a fool? In this essay I shall be exploring the life of Samson, the famous ‘strong-man’ of the Old Testament, and considering whether we should consider him ‘hero’ or ‘fool’ by considering cultural attitudes of the time towards manhood and masculinity, exploring the causes of his frequent fits of rage, and challenging the notion that any of his actions can, indeed, be seen as heroic. I shall endeavour to explain why his actions should be regarded as foolish, totally unsuited to the world in which he lived, and especially unsuited to the role of a Nazirite Judge. Cundall describes Samson as being ‘in a category all of his own’, and his actions as those of an ‘uncontrollable juvenile delinquent’ Arthur Ernest Cundall and Leon Morris, Judges and Ruth: An Introduction and Commentary (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press / IVP Academic, 2008), p. 155. – could it be that ‘category all of his own’ is the only way we can possibly describe this anomalous Judge of Israel? In reading this Biblical account we need to recognise that some of the content may reflect feelings at the time it was compiled (‘the pre-monarchic, pre-tenth-century BCE era’ The Oxford Bible Commentary, ed. by John Barton, Taschenbuch-Ausg (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2007), p. 176.), perhaps written to provide the nation of Israel with a shared history to look back on and draw strength from (‘Deuteronomistic history, supposed by many to have been compiled during the Exile’ Barton, p. 6.). In a time of great upheaval and distress, the people needed strong figures from their past to look back on and take encouragement from. Throughout the history of storytelling, the downfall of mighty men has often been attributed to the women around them. The Biblical Creation story portrays Eve first succumbing to the serpent’s temptation, before luring Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit, precipitating their exile from the Garden of Eden see Genesis 3. 1-13. Samson is clearly a fool for love, prepared to do anything for the women he loves, irrespective of the consequences. His first recorded act was to instruct his father to procure a Philistine woman he found attractive Judges 14. 1 and 14. 3 These and all other Scripture quotations from the ESV. Samson’s father was displeased Judges 14. 3, perhaps unsurprising considering Wilson refers to the Philistines as ‘Israel’s archetypal enemy’ Stephen M Wilson, ‘Samson the Man-Child: Failing to Come of Age in the Deuteronomistic History’, Journal of Biblical Literature, 133.1 (2014), 43–60 <https://doi.org/10.1353/jbl.2014.0007>.. After sharing his riddle with the wedding banquet guests, Samson’s fiancée is manipulated to discover the answer and share it with the guests Judges 14. 17. Although it was clearly not in Samson’s interest to share the answer to the riddle, he was unable to withstand his fiancée’s weeping. Further into the narrative, we see Samson fall in love with Delilah Judges 16. 4, another pagan woman. She was coerced to discover the secret of Samson’s strength, so attempted to trick Samson three times before finally succeeding Judges 6. 13. Samson, unable to keep a secret from her, gives in and reveals the great secret of his strength, even though Delilah’s intentions seem blindingly clear to the reader. As in the account of his fiancée, so here it is Delilah’s persistence that eventually wears Samson down, and her use of emotional leverage. Why does he do this? And why, in both cases does Samson respond so extremely? Exum writes of the ‘disastrous results’ that come from Samson’s desire to prove his love J. Cheryl Exum, ‘The Many Faces of Samson’, in Samson: Hero or Fool? (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2014), pp. 13–31 <https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004262362_003>., Barton speaks of the ‘power struggle’ that seems to emerge whenever Samson enters a relationship with a woman Barton. p186 while Edward Greenstein speaks of Samson suffering ‘an acute weakness for women’ Edward L Greenstein, ‘The Riddle of Samson’, Prooftexts, 1.3 (1981), 237–60.. Having established the weakness that ‘Samson the Man-Child’ Wilson. has for women, let us consider what this can lead him to – great acts of anger and terror, perhaps better described as excessive murderous rampages. Having lost the wager (owing to his fiancée’s indiscretion over the meaning of the riddle Judges 14. 15-18), Samson goes on his first recorded (unnecessary?) rampage, killing thirty men of the town of Askelon for their clothes. Exum asks why Samson couldn’t simply steal the clothes? To steal them would be bad enough, but the murders seem rather excessive Exum.. Returning to take his fiancée to be his wife after this, his first rampage, Samson discovers that her father has given her to his ‘companion’ Elsewhere described as his ‘best man’. Susan Niditch, considering this, explains that this ‘fast and loose’ attitude shown by the father is like that of other Biblical fathers-in-law. Unhappy with this, Samson ‘prepares countervengeance’ Susan Niditch, Judges (2008) : A Commentary (Louisville, United States: Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, 2011) <http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/gla/detail.action?docID=3416791>. – wholescale destruction of the harvest. It is worth noting that it is not just Samson’s weakness with women that leads him to these acts of murderous rampage: when Samson consented to be handed over to the Philistines See Judges 15. 12ff, and was taken into the city of Lehi, ‘the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him… [and] he struck 1,000 men.’ Judges 15. 14-15 Exum, commenting on the Philistines’ attempts to deal with Samson, suggests they ‘pale in comparison to Samson’s vendettas against the Philistines. Not without cause do the Philistines see Samson as ‘the ravager of our country, who has slain many of us’’ Exum., quoting Judges 16. 24. Samson’s murder of thousands of Philistines would undoubtedly have made him seem a hero to the Israelite readers – but how heroic was he really? Stephen Wilson describes Samson as ‘the Man-Child’ Wilson., and explores Samson’s ‘more boyish features’. He notes that, in an age where masculinity was proven with the siring of healthy children, Samson’s lack of issue is very telling. Samson’s lack of wife and legitimate heir, and his constant attraction to foreign women, show him to be immature Wilson.. This is evidenced in his seemingly close relationship with his parents. We cannot know how Samson was brought up, but given the detailed and miraculous birth narrative (Manoah’s wife was barren until visited by an angel) and that he was brought up as a Nazir, we can perhaps assume it was a close and religious environment. Unlike many Biblical men, however, in whose narratives we only hear about their parents until they come of age and marry, Samson’s parents continue to appear frequently in the story. As soon as Samson came across the Timnahite woman, he returns to his parents Judges 14. 2; although they share their reservations about his choice of wife, Samson convinces his father to ‘get her’ Judges 14. 3, it is with his parents that Samson immediately shares the miraculous honey from the lion’s carcass (not his fiancée) Judges 14. 9, and later on we find his father at the wedding feast Judges 14. 10. After his summary murder of thirty innocent men of the town of Ashkelon, Samson returns again to his parents Judges 14. 19, perhaps showing that however physically strong Samson may have been, there was a childish weakness that drew him to the safety of his childhood home. When his fiancée pressed him to disclose the meaning of the riddle, Samson replied ‘Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?’’ Judges 14. 16 – evidently the thought of sharing a thought with anybody without sharing it with his parents first is too much for Samson to consider! There is a devotion to his parents that seemingly sits well above his devotion to his fiancée. Wilson explains that Samson’s failure to fully detach from his parents is a leading factor in his relationship failures Wilson.. It is little surprise that Samson never achieves a lasting relationship, matures to the level of manhood, nor produces a legitimate heir, when his heart is still in his childhood home. For all his strength and physical might, a close reading of this text suggest a scared boy who was never able to truly detach himself from his parents, and whose actions (such as his murderous rampages and sexual encounters with the prostitute) appear more the result of childhood experimentation than reasoned adult thinking. Samson is very different to the other Judges of Israel – never did he lead an army into battle Cundall and Morris, p. 154., his twenty year period as Judge Judges 15. 20 appears to have little impact on Israel’s fortunes, and he dies (admittedly bravely) as a prisoner of the very people he was meant to protect Israel from Cundall and Morris, p. 155.. Cundall, irrespective of Samson’s bravery, believes that the editor of his story does little to magnify him Cundall and Morris, p. 155.. Although there is little doubt among scholars that the book of Judges was written well after the time in which it was set, and likely served as a Deuteronomistic History for the Exiles to draw strength from, I can find little in the Scripture to show Samson as the hero that Israel needed to be able to look back on. Having considered his relationships with women, his seemingly uncontrollable fits of anger, and his unusually close relationship with his parents, I come away with the feeling that calling Samson a fool is not enough – for I believe that the story of Samson is a tragic case of a boy trapped inside a man’s body, struggling to truly understand or interact with the world around him. In fact, a man more unsuited to be a Nazir, or a Judge of Israel, I cannot imagine.  Bibliography Barton, John, ed., The Oxford Bible Commentary, Taschenbuch-Ausg (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2007). Cundall, Arthur Ernest, and Leon Morris, Judges and Ruth: An Introduction and Commentary (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press / IVP Academic, 2008). Exum, J. Cheryl, ‘The Many Faces of Samson’, in Samson: Hero or Fool? (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2014), pp. 13–31 <https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004262362_003> Greenstein, Edward L, ‘The Riddle of Samson’, Prooftexts, 1.3 (1981), 237–60. Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (London: Collins, 2007). Homer, The Odyssey (London : W. Heinemann; New York : G.P. Putnam’s sons, 1919., 1919). <https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/999730182302121> Niditch, Susan, Judges (2008) : A Commentary (Louisville, United States: Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, 2011). <http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/gla/detail.action?docID=3416791> Wilson, Stephen M, ‘Samson the Man-Child: Failing to Come of Age in the Deuteronomistic History’, Journal of Biblical Literature, 133.1 (2014), 43–60. <https://doi.org/10.1353/jbl.2014.0007>