A stone seal discovered by Tel Aviv University researchers in Tel Beit Shemesh depicts a painting of a man fighting a lion-like animal
A conical seal made of stone, which was found in the excavations of the Institute of Archeology at Tel Aviv University, which took place recently in Tel Beit Shemesh under the direction of Prof. Shlomo Bonimowitz and Dr. Zvi Lederman, may serve as the earliest evidence for the stories of Samson from several judges. On the seal, which is 16 mm in diameter, two figures are engraved in a somewhat schematic way: a man and a large animal with a large head and a long tail. The right hand of the man, whose image is engraved on the right side of the seal, extends to the neck or head of the animal.
According to what is told in chapter XNUMX of the book of Judges, Samson met on his way to his wedding feast with a Philistine girl who was fat, in the Shork Valley a little west of Tel Beit Shemesh, "a lion roaring towards him." And the spirit of the Lord prevailed upon him, and he tore him apart as the he-goat tore him, and he had nothing in his hand"... The lion's carcass and the honey that was created in it by a swarm of bees were later used as the subject of the well-known riddle "From the food came food and a goat came out sweet" that Samson gave to his Philistine shepherds. Achieving the solution of the riddle by a fraudulent act with the help of his new wife was the reason for the beginning of his long struggle against the Philistines which ended in his heroic death in the Philistine temple in Gaza. In Prof. Bonimowitz's opinion, "If the hypothesis that Samson and the lion are depicted on the seal from Tel Beit Shemesh is correct, then the rare find, which was discovered during excavations in a layer from the Early Iron Age (a period corresponding to the biblical description of the stories of Samson), connects for the first time in the history of research between the biblical story and the find An actual archeologist."
A unique ritual complex
In addition to the seal, the excavations at Tel Beit Shemesh revealed a ritual architectural complex, the likes of which has not been discovered in Israel until now, also from the Early Iron Age (11th century BC), before the days of the establishment of the monarchy in Israel. The history of the complex reflects well the turbulent events of ancient Beit Shemesh which were derived from its location on the border between three ethno-political entities: Canaanites, Philistines and Israelites.
Dr. Lederman, who examined and documented the buildings, points out that this special ritual complex has two main components: a well-built hall where the acts of worship were held and next to it rose a round structure that served as a raised worship platform. Inside the hall, two installations were discovered made of huge, round limestones that were hewn in a way that created in each stone a circular bowl with a raised goblet in the center, as well as a gutter for draining the liquid that accumulated on the stone. A third facility, a sort of flat table, is built from a slab of dolomite stone that was brought to the site from the foothills of the Judean Mountains east of Beit Shemesh. An unusual concentration of animal bones was found near this stone and it is possible that it was used to slaughter them. Fragments of pottery were found on the floor of the building, including bowls and goblets with colorful decoration models in the Canaanite pottery tradition.
According to him, the worship platform next to the structure was artificially raised above it by a massive retaining wall and was built on the outside only from large pebbles that formed a circular structure about three meters in diameter. The massive structure was completely filled with field stones and created a raised platform, only the lower part of which remains standing. Due to the need for detailed and meticulous documentation that will allow for both future metrological analysis and a peripheral illustration, this special structure, as well as the worship hall next to it, was scanned with innovative technology, which was tried here For the first time in Israel, using a XNUMXD laser scanning device.
"The structure of the cult is a sword," adds Dr. Lederman, "and in the tests of the soil layers that accumulated above it, conducted at the Weizmann Institute by our research partner Dr. Shawn Beubel from Canada, it turned out that they are the product of an animal pen that was probably erected to protest the memory of the place of worship." After that again there was a fundamental change in the function of the ritual area and the residents of Beit Shemesh where to visit the circular worship platform that remained intact and built many cooking corners near it, probably in connection with the renewed worship activity, during which families probably made a pilgrimage to the place to celebrate and dine.
Prof. Bonimowitz explains that the settlement of the Philistine immigrants - who originate from the Aegean region - among the Canaanite population of the southern coastal plain and the lowlands, led to dramatic changes in these areas and the growth of a political and cultural border between these entities. Beit Shemesh is an eye-opening example of the resistance of the local population of Canaanite origin who lived in the periphery of Palestine to consume items of Philistine material culture or to adopt the Philistine eating and drinking customs. Thus, for example, an examination of about 20 animal bones from Beit Shemesh showed that the inhabitants of the site completely stopped eating pork, in contrast to their Philistine neighbors who consumed this meat in very large quantities.
"The biblical stories about Samson and the description of the return of the Ark of the Covenant from Palestine after its capture by the Philistines add a legendary touch to the social process in which two groups hostile to each other sharpened their identity against each other, similar to what is happening today in many border areas" concludes Prof. Bonimowitz.
Against this background, the changes in the function of the place of worship revealed this summer at Tel Beit Shemesh are explained. It seems that the building was destroyed by the Philistines who wanted to completely erase his memory. However, the site returned to activity, and worship at the place continued until the end of the tenth century BC when Beit Shemesh became the administrative city of the Kingdom of Judah.
37 תגובות
Samson (3^10) *3.15
All I was able to understand from your words is that our right to the land stems from Greek mythology
There is no nation that does not have a mythology, and if historically it is lacking then it is invented and adapted to the spirit of the time (for example, the USA with its exaggerated mythology of superheroes). The questions whether the story of Samson happened or not, whether it originated in Greek mythology or another neighboring mythology are irrelevant because even if it is a legend, which by definition has an element of imagination, this legend precedes many "absolute" certain truths and therefore it is not a shame To build a solid foundation of folklore, tradition and foundation for our establishment here.
☼ Shulamit, very true ☼
I would be happy to add this to the things I brought in my response in the following link:
https://www.hayadan.org.il/sampson-story-on-ancient-stamp-310712/comment-page-1/#comment-353888
The story is too similar to the story of Hercules from Greek mythology overcoming the lion from Nemea as part of the 12 tasks assigned to him by Hera. Apparently the Philistines brought this methos with them from the Aegean Sea and the Jews made a local adaptation of it
not me.
I'm from Liverpool. never walks alone
You will walk the paths alone, Israel. Own
Between the vineyards of Timanta / in the narrow ditch,
Samson walks to him / alone and sings.
Between the vineyards of Timanta
in the narrow ditch,
Samson steps on him
walks and sings…
"Rabbi" Nachman Mazran.
A. In those days there were mostly weapons. According to the Bible, these tools were not in the hands of Israelites.
B. The problem with Samson the hero is about the superpowers he had.
third. This ring does not indicate a name, and moreover, it does not depict the crucifixion of a lion.
d. All the findings of humans from the last 10,000 years describe a biology similar to ours and therefore the physical abilities should be close. Even if the "survival instinct" was stronger it shouldn't be so strong that you could read an animal's muscle with your bare hands. Please try tearing a steak with your bare hands and you will understand what a difficult task this is.
Rabela'
You believe that instead of going to the army, you can pray.. Maybe Samson the hero was actually rocking in the yeshiva all day, and that's what actually killed the lion..
(But! What a genius I am..!)
But Samson the mighty
grabs harry,
and his journey into two
When Capricorn split.
It is not clear why it is so hard to believe that there was a "Samson the Hero" character
So he defeated a lion, at that time people had to know how to survive and rely more on their hands and there were no weapons, therefore the instinct of survival was stronger especially towards the wild nature around them.
In the past, different people lived, including Samson the hero, what is so unusual here?
Ernest,
Since there is no Yuval here except me, I assume you turned to me.
Please explain simply why.
Thanks
Whisper and roar
and hit a button,
Hey puppy, you puppy
Shimshon The Hero.
jubilee
In the morning experiment, the participants were presented with a certain event (they all saw the same thing at the same time), there was a significant difference in the descriptions of the event by the participants. Another experiment showed that our memory is very inaccurate and the brain complements and automatically corrects parts that are missing or damaged in the memory. To this we will add dreams and legends.
It is worth reading about the Six Day War or Yom Kippur in the history books of Egyptians or Syria versus ours. And more than that, there is also quite a difference between Israeli writers in what they write about those events.
Let's take for example what is today at this moment when everything is relatively fresh and clear,
rate,
Some think and write:
He didn't do anything
He did but agree
Peres set a trap for him
He did and is guilty
There were never things
And more
Rabin:
Peres killed him
Amir did it on his own accord
Amir was sent by an extremist faction
Bullets were fired at Rabin
Rabin was murdered in the square
Rabin was murdered in a car
He was assassinated at the behest of the US
And more
The sun is burning
around but my blood,
And suddenly – – a roar
Ari jump!
"Rabbi" Nachman Matzeran, put one seal. It may be the stamp of that theoretical dog breeder I suggested. As my father pointed out, this is a marginal story. And again, all there is is a man sending a hand to an animal towards the head of a large animal. I'll do an experiment, upload the photo to a neutral site, point out that it's a man and an animal, and see what people think they see.
Remember the song, remember it well. I looked for it on YouTube and couldn't find it. My search yielded this beautiful gem instead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Iu8FXeC2BM
Uri Avneri once told with great regret how all the female singers who performed his song missed his intention. He intended for them to sing "Samson's shou-ho-ho-ho-on ♫" and imitate the howling of foxes, but all the female singers sang "♪ Samson's fox-ah-ah-father ♪" 🙂
It is possible that the character of Samson was taken from the Philistine culture that originated in the islands of the Aegean Sea and was adapted by the biblical writer to Hebrew reality. Samson is a member of the tribe of Dan, and according to findings (found, for example, by archaeologist Yigal Yedin) it was found that the tribe of Dan is one of the sea tribes that was close to the Philistines. The similarity between the story of Samson and the story of Heracles from Greek mythology, with all the other Greek mythological elements accompanying it, is too great to be considered a mere coincidence. Samson, a big and strong man who overcomes a thousand men with the help of a donkey's cheek in one afternoon, can only be compared to one of the gods. Such was Heracles who even became a god. The miraculous birth of Samson can be compared to the birth of Heracles from a woman who gave birth to Zeus in an experimental way. Like Heracles, Samson is also described as a hot-blooded mountain man who, in one moment of anger, wreaks havoc on his surroundings. The attribution of Samson's power to his hair also corresponds to mythological foundations: in Ionic mythology, there is a story about a king named Nissus ("Si[m]son", in his ability to write letters), who as long as one particular curl in his hair was not cut, it was impossible to conquer his country. The curl was finally cut off, under romantic circumstances, and the kingdom was conquered. The story of killing the lion and finding honey in its carrion also has a parallel in the story of Aristaeus.
His height is like a palm tree
His curls flew,
The muscles stepped
How proud he is and fierce!
my father
The article is very interesting, but the sentence written by one of the readers, "The Bible is true and eternal, therefore the Bible does not need any proof", will not change, and its believers will not move from their path, but as I know you, you will continue to convince and explain
Even when you know in detail that this is a dialogue between deaf people.
In my opinion, you are acting in this case, out of some impulse unrelated to the website that claims to bring the audience closer to the world of science and research. Except for the believers, everyone realizes that they think and act and react out of complete blindness. But you go on and on in the dialogue with you, without sense and without any purpose.
And there is also the beautiful poem written by Uri Avneri about Samson's foxes.
Who knows the song:
Between the vineyards of Timanta
in the narrow ditch,
Samson steps on him
walks and sings…
Most of the books of the Tanakh were written by a group of writers, some from Judah and some refugees from the Kingdom of Israel after its destruction, at the hands of King Josiah who decided to build a common past for both peoples
https://www.hayadan.org.il/bigest-spin-in-history-090503/
Father, this is not conclusive proof, but it is proof. On the other hand, science contradicts almost every story from the Bible.
I wonder who wrote the Bible... (I assume it's not some human being with a fertile imagination, because what interest would he have in writing a book of over 1000 pages?)
Regarding the seal - it is possible that someone created the seal to strengthen the biblical story about Samson.
This is a seal from the pre-Israeli period. It is likely that this is the figure of Gilgamesh from Babylonian mythology
I think I managed to understand the meaning of the sentence, in Ezekiel
"The vision of the dry bones" is simple, the prophecy of an old man
my father
My main occupation is slaughtering chicken
Ugh.., a lot of corruption in business
Alas if we all repent fully. Who will support us? After all, there is a limit to the professions from which the ultra-Orthodox come, such as psalm reciters, butchers, mohelim, baavos.
After all, all these professions are not productive professions, this is in contrast to the times when there were people like Rabbi Yochanan the shoemaker or Rabbi Akiva who was a shepherd.
And you probably don't understand that there is a story and that someone drew a seal on it doesn't mean anything about its truth.
And besides, the story about the lion is only one of the secondary stories in Samson's history, why are there no references to, for example, the destruction of the gates of Gaza? It's a little more important.
Max
It's already a different world, another field, it seems to me that the Nobel Prize will be given to a person who succeeds in deciphering the mystery called "blind faith" at this point everything you say and explain and imply is completely unnecessary, we should try not to get stuck or dragged, otherwise we, out of some blind faith, will think that we can Convince the one that his faith is blind in the matter that is contrary to his faith.
Despite the heresy in everything written in the Bible
To my father's credit, he brought this article here
Indeed, it corresponds to the stories of Samson in terms of location and time, and they would not have bothered to claim a coin seal if it had no meaning beyond a dog trainer.
Amazing, little by little we are returning to the sources, the Creator of the world directs us to complete repentance, that even the weak in faith will be strengthened
To Mr. Kora, do you have a problem with Samson's stories? Annihilation of 1000 people with a donkey's cheek? If he counted there on eliminating 1000 Philistines with a mag or 0.5 I would understand.
reader
There are people who attach the word, possibly, to any information that comes to them as a story, whether it is in writing or by word of mouth (such as a judgment, a history book, the Torah, the Koran, a newspaper article, a novel, a report, a letter).
If you understand this, you will not ask questions that, in my eyes, belong to the world of children and toddlers.
So you just put an exploded title, a man sending a hand towards a large animal. Here is a link to a website that explains how to send hands to large animals. http://www.the-parenting-magazine.com/pets-for-kids/dog-petting-the-right-and-the-wrong-way-to-do-it/. To me it seems much more logical that it is a seal of a dog breeder than a description of a battle. Jesus, by the way, is more like tearing it in half than breaking a joint (which I would do if I put my hand to the head of an animal that I want and can kill it).
My father, that is, was a man who defeated a lion, so you also say
So the whole problem is whether they called him Samson or not
In your book it is told that some man defeated a lion and in addition he has another story with Philistines
Then a man came and wrote it in a book at an appropriate time and the book was incorporated into your book...
By chance there was a man who defeated a lion and by chance it was written about it in the Bible even before me that someone thought there was such a ring
Why is it so hard for you to say that the story might be true? Why do you have to twist so much?
If there is a jagged stone that is not natural and there is a theory about a person so and so years ago who used such a stone
So as soon as a stone like this is found, it is a proof and the same theory
What is different here? Except for the expression that a person refuses to believe in thee that then it will cause him a problem in his whole worldview?
Of course this means that the story was known when the seal was made, it does not necessarily mean that it is true, it is possible that there was a case of a man defeating a lion that was incorporated into the story of Samson by the writers of the Tanakh for educational or literary reasons.
Wow .. challenging .. so Shimshon is indeed verified! Unbelievable, just yesterday I read Judges for pleasure.. haha!
Stunning
Wow .. challenging .. so Shimshon is indeed verified! Unbelievable, just yesterday I read Judges for pleasure.. haha!