Page 138 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew

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CHAPTER 8 EARTH, MOON, SUN, PLANETS
CHAPTER 8 EARTH, MOON, SUN, PLANETS 117
where shamash was a (male) god of the sun and of justice; but refer to
section 8.3;
8
• Cheres —for example: “And the men of the city said to him on the
9
seventh day before the sun came down [beterem bo charsah ]” (Judges
8
14:18); or, “Which commands the sun [cheres ] and it rises not; and
seals up the stars” (Job 9:7). This name for sun is hardly used in
modern Hebrew, and its appearances in the Bible are rare, relative to
shemesh; 7
10
• Chamah, which is also the word for “hot” (feminine adjective).

Analyzing these words and their possible interrelationships, we start with the
more controversial and rare name for sun, cheres. 8
This name surprisingly is used also for “clay.” This is a strange association,
unless one assumes that the sun and clay have some common traits. However,
8
the term cheres is extremely interesting in its relationship to Samson . The name
Samson in Hebrew is Shimshon , which obviously originated in the Hebrew word
7
shemesh (sun). The question is why Samson was named after the sun. Because
this biblical hero had extraordinary physical capabilities, scholars believe that per-
haps there was some legend prevailing, among ancient Israelites, that Samson was
born out of sexual contacts between Samson’s mother and “the man of God,” who
had come to tell her of the expected pregnancy. The way the Bible describes this
encounter probably points to the source of the story in that legend and reflects it:

“And the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field:

and Manoah her husband was not with her” (Judges 13:9). We recall that legends
about sexual encounters between humans and sons of pagan Gods were com-
mon in ancient times. This is clearly indicated already in Genesis, just before the

story of Noah (and the deluge) begins to unfold: “The Nefilim [giants] were on

the earth in those days: and also after that, when the sons of God came in to the
daughters of men, and they bore children to them” (Gen. 6:4).
Given the unique physical strength of Samson , the prevailing legend was prob-
ably that he was born out of the sexual encounter of his mother with the son of
the god of sun. The Bible narrator, probably aware of this legend, wishes to uproot
any such insinuation, and therefore is hinting at the “true” source of the name of
Samson in the fact that the solution to the riddle that Samson had submitted to
the Philistines was revealed before sunset. Thus, the legend about Samson as the
offspring of the god of sun is in one strike obliterated (refer to Zakovitch and

Shinan 2004 for further details about this interesting explanation for the name of

Samson).