Judge Samson

Judges 13–16 tells that an angel announced Samson's birth to the barren wife of Manoah, a Danite of Zorah: he was to be a Nazirite from the womb, never drinking wine or cutting his hair. He tore a lion apart with his bare hands and later found honey in its carcass, the basis of his riddle at his wedding to a Philistine woman of Timnah: "Out of the eater came something to eat." He killed 30 men of Ashkelon, tied torches to 300 foxes to burn the Philistine fields, struck down a thousand men with a donkey's jawbone at Lehi, and carried off the gates of Gaza. Delilah, bribed with 1,100 pieces of silver by each Philistine lord, finally learned the secret of his strength and had his hair shaved. Blinded and grinding grain in a Gaza prison, he prayed for strength once more and pulled down the temple of Dagon by its two central pillars, killing more Philistines at his death than in his life. He judged Israel 20 years.

The Philistine temple excavated at Tell Qasile in Tel Aviv had two central wooden pillars set close together, often cited to illustrate the story. Samson's tomb is traditionally placed between Zorah and Eshtaol.