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Samson (; , meaning "man of the sun"), Shamshoun ((アラビア語:شمشون) ''/''), or Sampson ((ギリシア語:Σαμψών)), is one of the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Judges chapters 13 to 16). According to the biblical account, Samson was given supernatural strength by God in order to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats such as killing a lion, slaying an entire army with only the jawbone of an ass, and destroying a pagan temple. Samson had two vulnerabilities, however: his attraction to untrustworthy women and his hair, without which he was powerless. These vulnerabilities ultimately proved fatal for him. In some Jewish and Christian traditions, Samson is believed to have been buried in Tel Tzora in Israel overlooking the Sorek valley. There reside two large gravestones of Samson and his father Manoah. Nearby stands Manoah’s altar (Judges 13:19–24).〔(The Philistines are upon you, Samson, Ynet )〕 It is located between the cities of Zorah and Eshtaol. ==Biblical narrative== Samson's activity takes place during a time when God was punishing the Israelites, by giving them "into the hand of the Philistines". The Angel of the Lord appears to Manoah, an Israelite from the tribe of Dan, in the city of Zorah, and to his wife, who had been unable to conceive.〔 The Angel of the Lord proclaims that the couple will soon have a son who will begin to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines. The wife believed the Angel of the Lord, but her husband was not present, at first, and wanted the heavenly messenger to return, asking that he himself could also receive instruction about the child who was going to be born. Requirements were set up by the Angel of the Lord that Manoah's wife (as well as the child) were to abstain from all alcoholic beverages, and her promised child was not to shave or cut his hair. He was to be a "Nazirite" from birth. In ancient Israel, those wanting to be especially dedicated to God for a time could take a Nazarite vow, which included those mentioned as well as other requirements.〔〔〔 After the Angel of the Lord returned, Manoah soon prepared a sacrifice. However, the Angel of the Lord would only allow it to be for God, and touched it with his staff, miraculously engulfing it in flames. The Angel then ascended into the sky in the fire, and in doing so revealed that he was not simply an angel but was God in angelic form. This was such dramatic evidence of the nature of the Messenger, that Manoah feared for his life, since it was said that no one could live after seeing God. However, his wife convinced him that if God planned to slay them, he would never have revealed such things to them. In due time a son, Samson, was born; he was raised according to the provisions.〔〔 When he was a young adult, Samson left the hills of his people to see the cities of the Philistines. He fell in love with a Philistine woman from Timnah, whom he decided to marry, ignoring the objections of his parents, who were unsure that "it () of the Lord".〔〔 In reality, the intended marriage was part of God's plan to strike at the Philistines.〔 On his way to ask for her hand in marriage, Samson is attacked by a lion (less ferocious than its African cousin). He simply grabs it and rips it apart, the spirit of God divinely empowering him. This so profoundly affects Samson, who just keeps it a secret.〔 He arrives at the Philistine's house and wins her hand in marriage. On his way to the wedding, Samson sees that bees have nested in the carcass of the lion and made honey.〔〔 He eats a handful of the honey and gives some to his parents.〔 At the wedding feast, Samson proposes that he tell a riddle to his thirty groomsmen (all Philistines); if they can solve it, he will give them thirty pieces of fine linen and garments, but if they cannot solve it; they will give him thirty pieces of fine linen and garments.〔〔 The riddle ("Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet") is a veiled account of his second encounter with the lion (at which only he was present).〔〔 The Philistines are infuriated by the riddle.〔 The thirty groomsmen tell Samson's new wife that they will burn her and her father's household if she does not discover the answer to the riddle and tell it to them.〔〔 At the urgent and tearful imploring of his bride, Samson tells her the solution, and she tells it to the thirty groomsmen.〔〔 Before sunset on the seventh day they said to him, :"What is sweeter than honey? :and what is stronger than a lion?" Samson said to them, :"If you had not plowed with my heifer, :you would not have solved my riddle."〔 He flies into a rage and kills thirty Philistines of Ashkelon for their garments, which he gives his thirty groomsmen.〔〔〔 Still in a rage, he returns to her father's house and finds out that his bride has been given to another man as wife.〔〔〔 Her father refuses to allow him to see her and wishes to give Samson the younger sister.〔〔 Samson attaches torches to the tails of three hundred foxes, leaving the panicked beasts to run through the fields of the Philistines, burning all in their wake.〔〔〔 The Philistines find out why Samson burned their crops and they burn Samson's wife and father-in-law to death.〔〔 In revenge, Samson slaughters many more Philistines, saying, "I have done to them what they did to me."〔〔 Samson then takes refuge in a cave in the rock of Etam.〔 〕〔〔 An army of Philistines goes up and demands that 3000 men of Judah deliver them Samson.〔〔 With Samson's consent, they tie him with two new ropes and are about to hand him over to the Philistines when he breaks free of the ropes.〔〔 Using the jawbone of a donkey he slays 1,000 Philistines.〔〔 At the conclusion of ''Judges'' 15 it is said that Samson ''had "judged"'' Israel for twenty years. Later, Samson travels to Gaza, where he stays at a harlot's house.〔 His enemies wait at the gate of the city to ambush him, but he rips the gate up and carries it to "the hill that is in front of Hebron".〔〔 He then falls in love with a woman, Delilah, at the Brook of Sorek.〔〔〔〔 The Philistines approach Delilah and induce her (with 1,100 silver coins) to try to find the secret of Samson's strength so they can get rid of it and capture their enemy.〔〔 Samson, refuses to reveal the secret, teases her, telling her that he will lose his strength should he be bound with fresh bowstrings.〔〔 She does so while he sleeps, but when he wakes up he snaps the strings.〔〔 She persists, and he tells her he can be bound with new ropes. She ties him up with new ropes while he sleeps, and he snaps them, too.〔〔 She asks again, and he says he can be bound if his locks are woven together.〔〔 She weaves them together, but he undoes them when he wakes.〔〔 Eventually after much nagging from Delilah, Samson tells Delilah that he will lose his strength with the loss of his hair.〔〔〔 Delilah calls for a servant to shave Samson's seven locks.〔〔〔 Since that breaks the Nazirite oath, God leaves him, and Samson is captured by the Philistines,〔〔〔 who blind him by gouging out his eyes. After being blinded, Samson is brought to Gaza, imprisoned, and put to work grinding grain and making milk by turning a large millstone.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Samson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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