Texts in Conversation
The birth stories of Samson in Judges and Samuel in 1 Samuel share nearly identical language, especially the instruction that a razor must not touch the child’s head. This similarity suggests that both accounts draw from a common source or shared narrative tradition.
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Judges 13:5
Hebrew Bible
4 Now be careful! Do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. 5 Look, you will conceive and have a son. You must never cut his hair, for the child will be dedicated to God from birth. He will begin to deliver Israel from the power of the Philistines.” 6 The woman went and said to her husband, “A man sent from God came to me! He looked like God’s angel—he was very awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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1 Samuel 1:11
Hebrew Bible
10 As for Hannah, she was very distressed. She prayed to the Lord and was, in fact, weeping. 11 She made a vow saying, “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you would truly look on the suffering of your servant, and would keep me in mind and not neglect your servant, and give your servant a male child, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut.” 12 It turned out that she did a great deal of praying before the Lord. Meanwhile Eli was watching her mouth.
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Another body of evidence is the presence of numerous cases of repeated prose images. A scene that is pictured in one story recurs in another part of the collection, along with some recurring word or phrase to confirm that the parallel pictures are related. The J account of Moses at the burning bush includes the famous instruction, “Take off your shoes from your feet, because the place on which you’re standing: it’s holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). And in the account of Joshua at Jericho that comes in these texts, a divine creature says the exact same words to Joshua (Joshua 5:15). Both Samson (in Judges) and Samuel (in Samuel B) receive the instruction not to cut their hair; and the wording in both is “and a razor shall not go up on his head” (Judges 13:5; 16:17; 1 Samuel 1:11) ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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