same as Baal" (Rawlinson, Herod, ii, 44, note 7). Tlie ciiiinectiou between the Plioeiiiciaii Baal (called Baal Sliemen, Baal Shemesh, and Baal Ilamman) and Her- cules is well known. Gesenius (Tkesain: s. v. 5"3) tells us that in certain Phoenician inscriptions, which are ac- ciirapauied by a Greek translation, Bddl is rendered Ue>-akks, and that " the Tyrian Hercides" is the con- stant Greek designation of the Baal of Tyre. He also gives man\' Carthaginian inscriptions to Baal Hamraan, which he renders Baal Solaris; and iilso a scidpture in which Baal Hamnian's head is surrounded with rays, and which has an image of the sun on the upper part of the monument (Moii. P/ioen. i, 111; ii, tab. 21). An- other evidence of the identity of the Plueuician Baal and Hercules may be found in Buuli, near Baia?, a place sacred to Hercules ("locus Herculis," Serv.), but evi- dently so called from Baal. Thirlwall {Hist, of Gi'eece) ascribes to the numerous temples built by the Phoeni- cians in honor of Baal in their different settlements the Greek fables of tlie labors anil journeys of Hercules. Bochart thinks the custom described by Ovid (Fast. liv) of tying a lighted torch between two foxes in the circus, in memory of the damage once done to the har- vest by a fox with burning hay and straw tied to it, was derived from the Phoenicians, and is clearly to be traced to the history of Samson {IHeroz. pars i, lib. iii, cap. xiii). From all this, however, arises little prob- ability that the Greek and Latin conception of Hercu- les in regard to his strength was derived from Phoeni- cian stories and reminiscences of the great Hebrew hero Samson. Some learned men connect the name Hercu- IfS with Samson etymologically (see Wilkinson's note in Kawlinson's Herod, ii, 43 ; Patrick, On Judy, xvi, 30 ; Cornel, a Lapide, etc.) ; but none of these etymologies are very convincing. Nevertheless, the following de- scription of Hercules, given by C. O. Midler (Dorians, bk. ii. ch. xii), might almost have been written for Sam- son: "The highest degree of human suffering and cour- age is attributed to Hercules : his character is as noble as could be conceived in those rude and early times; but lie is by no means represented as free from the bletn- islies of human nature; on the contrary, he is frequent- ly sul)ject to wild, ungovernable passions, when the no- ble indignation and anger of the suffering hero degener- ate into frenzy. Every crime, however, is atoned for by some new suffering; but nothing breaks his invinci- ble courage until, purified from earthly corruption, he ascends Mount Olympus." Again: "Hercules was a jovial guest, and not backward in enjoying himself. . . . It was Hercules, above all other heroes, whom mythol- ogy placed in ludicrous situations, and sometimes made the butt of the buffoonery of others. The Cercopes are represented as alternately amusing and annoying the hero. In works of art they are often represented as satyrs who rob the hero of his quiver, bow, and club. Hercules, annoyed at their insults, binds two of them to a pole, and marches off with his prize. ... It also seems that mirth and buffoonery were often combined with the festivals of Hercules: thus at xVthens there was a society of sixty men, who, on the festival of the Dio- mean Hercules, attacked and amused themselves and others with sallies of wit." The commentary of Adam Clarke presents us with the results of Do Lavour, an ingenious French writer, on this subject, from which it will be seen that the coincidences are extremely strik- ing, and such as would, perhai)s, afford to most minds, an additional jiroof of how much tlie aiunent mytholo- gies were a distorted reflection of the Scripture narra- tive. Phcenician traders, it is imagined, might easily have carried stories concerning the Helirew hero to the different countries where they traded, especially (ireece and Italy; and such stories would have been moulded according to the taste or imagination of those who heard them.
Whatever is thought, liowcvcr, of such coincidences, it is certain that the historv of Samson is a historical.
and not an allegorical, narrative. It has also a distinct- ly su|)ernatural element which cannot be explained away. The history, as we now have it, must have been written several centuries alter Samson's death (Judg. xv, 19, 20; xviii, I,o0; xix, 1), though probabh' taken from tlie annals of the tribe of Uan. Josephus has given it pret- ty fully, but with alterations and embellishments of his own, after his manner. The older writers on Samson contribute nothing to the interpretation of the history (e. g. Marck, in his Dissert. Philol. Exeget. p. 173 sq.). The effort to rid the story of its miraculous air appears already in Stackhouse (Bibl. Hist, iii, 776 sq.). The Wolfenbiittel Fragments (according to the specimens in Bayle and others) would simply degrade Samson; and Niemeyer {(Jhardk. iii, 524 sq.) accomplishes nothing beyond showing that this wilful and rough hero of the olden time, judged by the moral law, is unworthy of comparison with Christ (see Hauke, De Simsone Typo Chrixti [Alt. 1740 ] ). Samson was earnest and patriotic ; to him his Nazaritish consecration was not a mere relig- ious veil, but a living impulse, and no one can projicrly deny him the dignity of a shophef, or judge (Bertheau, Btich der Richter, p. 14, Einkit.), unless he understands the word in a narrow and too modern sense. The moral significance of Samson's life has been first set forth by Ewald {Gesch. Isr. ii, 401 sq.), but he seems to have idealized his hero too much (comp. the excellent re- marks of Bertheau, op. rit. p. 168 sq.). The only men- tion of Samson in the New Test, confirms his historical character, being that in Heb. xi, 32, where he is coupled with Gideon, Barak, and Jephthah, 'and spoken of as one of those who "through faith waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens."