Archeologists found a stone seal that may prove that Samson is not a legendary figure, but a man who actually existed. [1]
The Science Daily of August 13, 2012 reported that archaeologists from Tel Aviv University discovered a circular stone seal in a house in Beth Shemesh, in Israel about 15 millimeters in diameter that seems to depict a lion and a man. The archeologists dated the stone to the 12th century BCE, about the time that Samson may have lived. Professor Shlomo Bunimovitz, a co-director of the dig, reported that the seal helps “anchor the story [of Samson] in an archaeological setting.”
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported the event on July 30, 2012 and stated that, “excavation directors Professor Shlomo Bunimovitz and Dr. Zvi Lederman of Tel Aviv University say they do not suggest that the human figure on the seal is the biblical Samson. Rather, the geographical proximity (of the stone seal) to the area where (the Bible states) Samson lived, and the time period of the seal, show that a story was being told at the time of a hero who fought a lion, and that the story eventually found its way into the biblical text and onto the seal.”
[1] My Wednesday morning study partner Dr. Jack Cohen brought this to my attention.
