Sam´suhn
An early Israelite hero whose story is told in (Judg 13-17). The traditions about Samson depict him as a judge who assisted his tribe, the Danites, in their struggle against the Philistines. He was a Nazirite from birth, but his passion for foreign women compromised the Nazirite vow, which required him to refrain from cutting his hair and to avoid wine and any unclean food. His life story is told with reference to his erotic involvement with three women: an unnamed woman from Timnah, a harlot in the Philistine city of Gaza, and Delilah, a Philistine who learns that the secret of his great strength lies in his hair. Delilah betrays Samson to his enemies. Shorn of his locks, he is blinded and set to work at a mill, but when the Philistine lords make sport of him at a festival, Samson prays for renewed strength and pulls down two pillars, causing the building to collapse upon himself and the multitude.
