Samson

Samson

Samson (; Hebrew: שִׁמְשׁוֹן, Šīmšōn, "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution of the monarchy. He is sometimes considered as an Israelite version of the popular Near Eastern folk hero also embodied by the Sumerian Enkidu and the Greek Heracles.The biblical account states that Samson was a Nazirite, and that he was given immense strength to aid him against his enemies and allow him to perform superhuman feats, including slaying a lion with his bare hands and massacring an entire army of Philistines using only the jawbone of a donkey. However, if Samson's long hair were cut, then his Nazirite vow would be violated and he would lose his strength.Samson is betrayed by his lover Delilah, who, sent by the Philistines officials to entice him, orders a servant to cut his hair while he is sleeping and turns him over to his Philistine enemies, who gouge out his eyes and force him to grind grain in a mill at Gaza. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Samson has received more than 5,163,590 page views. His biography is available in 65 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 63 in 2019). Samson is the 28th most popular religious figure (up from 63rd in 2019), the 11th most popular biography from Israel (up from 22nd in 2019) and the 10th most popular Israeli Religious Figure.

Samson is most famous for being a biblical figure who was given superhuman strength by God. He was captured by the Philistines and forced to work for them, but he eventually killed them with the jawbone of a donkey.