Tel Aviv University researchers recently uncovered a seal (see photo below) measuring 15 millimetres (about a half-inch) in diameter, which depicts a human figure next to a lion at the archaeological site of Beth Shemesh, located between the Biblical cities of Zorah and Eshtaol, where Samson was born, flourished, and finally buried, according to the Book of Judges.
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The scene engraved on the seal, the time period, and the location of the discovery all point to a probable reference to the story of Samson - who was from the Israelite tribe of Dan - the legendary heroic figure whose adventures famously included a victory in hand-to-paw combat with a lion. The seal was discovered with other finds on the floor of an excavated house, dated by the archaeologists to the 12th century BC. Geographically, politically, and culturally, the legends surrounding Samson are set in this time period, also known as the period of the Judges, prior to the establishment of Kingship in ancient Israel. Prof. Bunimovitz believes that this period of contact and strife with the Canaanites and Philistines may have been the "meat" of the Samson legend incorporated in the Book of Judges, the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) that tells the stories of figures who championed the Israelite cause and fought against oppression through this historical period.
(Physorg.com)
