"and burned (Joshua 6). Judges chapters 13 to 16 tell the story of Samson who meets Delilah and his end in chapter 16. Samson was a Nazarite, a specially dedicated individual, from birth, yet his story indicates he violated every requirement of the Nazarite vow. Long hair was one of the symbolic representations of his special relationship with God; no razor was supposed to touch his hair. Samson travels to Gaza and ""fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you"
"significant to the ""Agonistes"" plot: Milton describes Samson as being """"Eyeless in Gaza"""", a phrase that has become the most quoted line of ""Agonistes"". Novelist Aldous Huxley used it as the title for his 1936 novel ""Eyeless in Gaza"". Samson's blindness, however, is in no way a direct analogy to Milton's. Rather, Samson's blindness plays various symbolic roles. One is the correlation between Samson's inner blindness as well as outer, the fact that he believes his ""intimate impulses"" to be divine messages, yet is never in any way divinely affirmed in this, unlike the rest of Milton's divinely influenced characters."
"and we will serve thee. But Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this ""condition"" I will make a ""covenant"" with you, that I thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it ""for"" a reproach upon all Israel. Prior passages do not explain Nahash's desire to blind the Israelites, and scholars have been unable to explain this punishment in the context of the Bible. A find from the Dead Sea scrolls, the scroll 4QSam, gives the missing beginning to I Samuel 11. Some very recent English translations (such as the TNIV) add the reading in a footnote. Now Nahash, king"
"of the B'nai Ammon (Ammonites), oppressed the B'nai Gad and the B'nai Reuven with force, and he plucked out every right eye. There was no savior for Israel and there remained not a (single) man among the B'nai Israel beyond the Jordan (river) whose right eye Nahash, king of the B'nai Ammon had not plucked out from him. (Now) there were seven contingents delivered from the hand of the B'nai Ammon. They went to Jabesh Gilead. And so it was about a month (later) that... Homeoteleuton Homeoteleuton, also spelled homoeoteleuton and homoioteleuton (from the Greek ', ""homoioteleuton"", ""like ending""), is"
"long afterward, having finally learned that the secret of Samson's strength is his long hair, she calls to hidden Philistine soldiers, who rush in to capture and blind Samson. ""The city of Gaza"" ""Scene 1: In a dungeon at Gaza"" His hair shorn and now blind and shackled, Samson is turning a mill-wheel and praying for his people, who will suffer for his sin. He hears their voices, echoing the Hebrews' lament from act 1. Overcome with remorse, Samson offers his life in sacrifice, while the Hebrews are heard in the distance lamenting his fate. ""Scene 2: In the Temple"
"comp. Num. xii. 7), and who, when descending Mount Sinai, had a beam of light coming off his face which so filled the people with awe that they could not look at him (Ex. xxxiv. 29); but makes no attempt to lift him above the ordinary man in his nature. He lived for forty days and forty nights on the mount without eating and drinking (Deut. ix. 9), but this was owing to the power God lent him while he received the Law; he died and was buried like any other mortal (ib. xxxiv. 5-6). Ben Sira was probably the"
"of the committee, describing years of living under rocket attack. The last to take the floor during the session was Noam Shalit, father of the Israeli captive soldier Gilad Shalit who at that time had been imprisoned in Gaza for three years, with no visit by the Red Cross permitted. Later that day, pro-Palestinian witnesses and experts from Israel and the West Bank testified. The next day, a military expert testified on weapons use by Hamas and Israel and an international law expert testified at Goldstone's Gaza hearings. Following the two-day session, Goldstone said that the investigation entered its final"
"the blind man would no longer be obliged to the seeing man for having accompanied the blind man on the way. The seeing man of the story is God, for 2 Chronicles and say, ""For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth."" And the blind man is Israel, as says, ""We grope for the wall like the blind, yea, as they that have no eyes do we grope; we stumble at noon-day as in the twilight"" (and the Israelites stumbled in the matter of the Golden Calf at midday). God illumined the way for"
"he reported having experienced a vision of the resurrected Jesus. The account says that ""he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?"" Saul replied, ""Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: ""[it is]"" hard for thee to kick against the pricks (goads)."" According to the account in , he was blinded for three days and had to be led into Damascus by the hand. During these three days, Saul took no food or water and spent his time in prayer to God. When"
"men were killed in one night. ""Like Xerxes in Greece, Sennacherib never recovered from the shock of the disaster in Judah. He made no more expeditions against either the Southern Levant or Egypt."" The remaining years of Hezekiah's reign were peaceful (). Isaiah probably lived to its close, and possibly into the reign of Manasseh. The time and manner of his death are not specified in either the Bible or other primary sources. The Talmud [Yevamot 49b] says that he suffered martyrdom by being sawn in two under the orders of Manasseh. According to rabbinic literature, Isaiah was the maternal"
"mentioned in the Bible as ruled by the Philistines, and had been fought over many times during its 4,000-year history. The Egyptians and the Assyrians had attacked Gaza, followed in 731 BC by the Greeks, with Alexander conducting three attacks and the Siege of Gaza in 332 BC. The town was completely destroyed in 96 BC and rebuilt slightly to the south of the original site. This Gaza was captured by Caliph Omar in 635 AD, by Saladin in 1187 AD, and by Napoleon in 1799. At Gaza there was an important depot for cereals with a German steam mill,"
"includes some material not found in the Bible such as the death of Abimélech in act 1. ""A square in Gaza at night"" In a square outside the temple of Dagon, a group of Hebrews beg Jehovah for relief from their bondage to the Philistines in a melancholy chorus (""Dieu d'Israël – God of Israel""), which leads into a fugue (""Nous avons vu nos cités renversées – We have seen our cities overturned""). Samson tries to revive the Israelites' morale and faith in God (""Arrêtez, ô mes frères – Stop, O my brothers"") in a rousing aria set against the"
"saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes,"" indicate that Balaam saw that the doors of their tents did not exactly face each other (and that the Israelites thus respected each other's privacy). So Balaam concluded that the Israelites were worthy to have the Divine Presence rest upon them (and he spoke his blessing in of the tents of Jacob). The Gemara deduced from the words ""the man whose eye is open"" in which refer to only a single open eye, that Balaam was blind in one eye. Rabbi Abbahu explained how Balaam became blind in one eye. Rabbi Abbahu interpreted"
"this gentleman had a gnawed chicken bone sacking out."" His true appearance, however, is far from comical: At the far side, the steel of his armour glittering, flew Azazello. The moon also changed his face. The absurd, ugly fang disappeared without a trace, and the albugo on his eye proved false. Azazello's eyes were both the same, empty and black, and his face was white and cold. Now Azazello flew in his true form, as the demon of the waterless desert, the killer-demon. Azazel or Azazael ( ""‘Ǎzāzêl"", ""Entire Removal"") is a term used three times in the Hebrew Bible,"
"not even be granted mercy at the resurrection. However, since the book is pseudepigraphic to the hand of Enoch, who predates Abraham, naturally the character of Abraham does not feature. Later rabbinical sources preserve several traces of the Bosom of Abraham teaching. In ""Kiddushin"" 72b, Adda bar Ahavah of the third century, is said to be ""sitting in the bosom of Abraham"", Likewise ""In the world to come Abraham sits at the gate of Gehenna, permitting none to enter who bears the seal of the covenant"" according to Rabbi Levi in Genesis Rabba 67. In the 1860s Abraham Geiger suggested"
"20:14). Balaam is pictured as blind in one eye and lame in one foot (Talmud Sanhedrin 105a); and his disciples (followers) are distinguished by three morally corrupt qualities: Due to his behavior with the Midianites, the Rabbis interpret Balaam as responsible for the behavior during the Heresy of Peor, which they consider to have been unchastity, and consequently the death of 24,000 victims of the plague which God sent as punishment. When Balaam saw that he could not curse the children of Israel, the Rabbis assert that he advised Balak, as a last resort, to tempt the Hebrew nation to"
"angels answered that Ishmael (at that time) was righteous. God replied that God judges people only as they are at the moment. Rabbi Benjamin ben Levi and Rabbi Jonathan ben Amram both read the words of ""And God opened her eyes and she saw,"" to teach that all may be presumed to be blind, until God enlightens their eyes. Rabbi Simeon wept that Hagar, the handmaid of Rabbi Simeon's ancestor Abraham's house, was found worthy of meeting an angel on three occasions, while Rabbi Simeon did not meet an angel even once. Rabbi Tarfon read to associate Mount Paran with"
"Abaddon The Hebrew term Abaddon ( ""’Ăḇaddōn""), and its Greek equivalent Apollyon (, ""Apollýōn"") appear in the Bible as both a place of destruction and an angel of the abyss. In the Hebrew Bible, ""abaddon"" is used with reference to a bottomless pit, often appearing alongside the place שְׁאוֹל (""Sheol""), meaning the realm of the dead. In the New Testament Book of Revelation, an angel called Abaddon is described as the king of an army of locusts; his name is first transcribed in Greek (Revelation 9:11—""whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, The Angel of Death."") as , and then translated"
"Gehazi Gehazi, Geichazi, or Giezi (Douay-Rheims) (Hebrew: ; Tiberian: Gêḥăzî; Standard: Geẖazi; ""valley of vision"") is a figure found in the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. As a servant of Elisha he was in a position of power but he was corrupt, and misused his authority and cheated Naaman the Syrian, a leper. As a punishment, Elisha cursed him, transferring Naaman's leprosy to him and his descendants for ever. In Rabbinic literature, Gehazi is identified as one of four commoners who forfeited his share in the afterlife because of his wickedness. He is the subject of a poem"
"Bethuel Bethuel ( ""Bəṯū’êl"", “house of God”), in the Hebrew Bible, was an Aramean man, the youngest son of Nahor and Milcah, the nephew of Abraham, and the father of Laban and Rebecca. Bethuel was also a town in the territory of the tribe of Simeon, west of the Dead Sea. Some scholars identify it with Bethul and Bethel in southern Judah, to which David gives part of the spoils of his combat with the Amalekites. The man Bethuel appears nine times in nine verses in the Hebrew Bible, all in Genesis. Adherents of the documentary hypothesis often attribute most"
"Hazael Hazael (; ;; Aramaic: חזאל, from the triliteral Semitic root ""h-z-y"", ""to see""; his full name meaning, ""El/God has seen""; ) was a court official and later an Aramean king who is mentioned in the Bible. Under his reign, Aram-Damascus became an empire that ruled over large parts of Syria and the Land of Israel. While he was likely born in the greater Damascus region of today, his exact place of birth is still controversial, with both Bashan and the Beqaa Valley being favoured by different historians. Hazael is first mentioned by name in . God tells Elijah the"
"Nazirite, symbolized by the fact that a razor has never touched his head, and that if his hair is cut off he will lose his strength. Delilah then woos him to sleep ""in her lap"" and calls for a servant to cut his hair. Samson loses his strength and he is captured by the Philistines who blind him by gouging out his eyes. They then take him to Gaza, imprison him, and put him to work turning a large millstone and grinding corn. One day, the Philistine leaders assemble in a temple for a religious sacrifice to Dagon, one of"
"the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead. 11:1 About a month later, Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, ""Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you."" But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, ""On this condition I will make a treaty with"
"on the plains of Jericho, and were taken to Riblah. There, after seeing his sons put to death, his own eyes were put out, and, being loaded with chains, he was carried captive to Babylon (; ; ; ; ; ; ), where he remained a prisoner until he died. After the fall of Jerusalem, Nebuzaradan was sent to destroy it. The city was plundered and razed to the ground. Solomon's Temple was destroyed. Only a small number of vinedressers and husbandmen were permitted to remain in the land (). Gedaliah, with a Chaldean guard stationed at Mizpah, was made"
"comes off poorly even by ancient Egyptian ethical standards. According to Maimonides and Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are no commandments in the parashah. Reading ""and Joseph shall pass his hand over your eyes,"" the ""Kitzur Shulchan Aruch"" taught that one should close the eyes of a dead person at death. Following the example of Joseph, if a child of the deceased is present, the deceased's child should do it, giving preference to the firstborn son. The Passover Haggadah, in the ""magid"" section of the Seder, reports that Israel ""went down to Egypt — forced to do so by the word [of"
"eyes, which have lusted after their idols.” This led to a broken covenant between Yahweh and Israel and “divorce,” manifested as defeat by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon followed by exile, from which the northern kingdom never recovered. The Bible presents Daniel and his companions as distinct, positive examples of individuals refusing to pay homage to another god, even at the price of their lives. During the time of the exile, Nebuchadnezzar erects a gold statue of himself and commands all subjects to worship it. Three Jewish officials – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – who had been taken to Babylon as"
"of Israel in c.740 and 722, but was finally completely destroyed by King Josiah of Judah (c.640-609 BC). Bethel is mentioned in Ezra 2:28 and Nehemiah 7:32 as being resettled at the time of the return of the exiles from Babylon. The shrine is mentioned with disapproval by the prophet Amos (c. 750): But seek not Beth–el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer–sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth–el shall come to nought. -King James Bible But prophesy not again any more at Beth–el: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the"
"Nathan of Gaza Nathan Benjamin ben Elisha Hayyim ha'Levi Ashkenazi / Ghazzati or Nathan of Gaza (; 1643–1680) was a theologian and author born in Jerusalem. After his marriage in 1663 he moved to Gaza, where he became famous as a prophet for the alleged messiah, Sabbatai Zevi. Although he is referred to by names such as Abraham Nathan ben Elisha Hayyim Ashkenazi or Rabbi Nathan Ashkenazi of Gaza, he is more commonly known as Nathan of Gaza. After studying Talmud and Kabbalah in his native town under Jacob Hagiz, he settled at Gaza, whence his name ""Ghazzati"". The fact"
"Delilah Delilah (; (meaning ""She dwindles"") ""Dəlilah"", Dəlila, Tiberian Hebrew Dəlilah; Arabic Dalilah; Greek Δαλιδά ""Dalida""; meaning ""faithless one"") is a woman mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. She is loved by Samson, a Nazirite who possesses great strength and serves as the final Judge of Israel. Delilah is bribed by the lords of the Philistines to discover the source of his strength. After three failed attempts at doing so, she finally goads Samson into telling her that his vigor is derived from his hair. As he sleeps, Delilah orders a servant"
"instead of his own two stubborn sons, Gershom and Eliezer. The fate of the sons of Moses is theologically controversial: they disappear from history. The books attributed to Moses give them no further mention despite the vast Levitic and Deuteronomic settlements of civic, military, priestly duties, and so on. One explanation is that because Zipporah was the daughter of a non-Jewish priest, God (or the priestly writers of the Hebrew Bible) did not have much pleasure in the sons of Moses. He had a brother named Ezra. Gershom According to the Bible, Gershom (; ) was the firstborn son of"
"unclear. Arrangement were made to demolish his family's home. Shuki Gilboa, a member of the volunteer neighborhood security association, responded after receiving an alert on his cell phone that the security perimeter had been breached. He was attacked by the perpetrator when he entered the 13-year-old victim's bedroom. The girl's father, Rabbi Amichai Ariel, then fired two shots at the perpetrator. One of the shots hit the attacker, the other hit Gilboa, who has permanently lost sight in one eye. The attacker was Mohammad Tra'ayra from the town of Bani Na'im. Tra'ayra had boasted on Facebook his wishes to die"
"the elders of Israel together."" And in the Wilderness, they had the scholars' council, as in God directed Moses to ""Gather . . . 70 men of the elders of Israel."" Rabbi Eleazar taught that Isaac's blindness, reported in was caused by his looking at the wicked Esau. But Rabbi Isaac taught that Abimelech's curse of Sarah caused her son Isaac's blindness. Rabbi Isaac read the words, ""it is for you a covering (""kesut"") of the eyes,"" in not as ""kesut"", ""covering,"" but as ""kesiyat"", ""blinding."" Rabbi Isaac concluded that one should not consider a small matter the curse of"
"was made whereby Ben-hadad restored the cities which his father had taken from Ahab's father, and trading facilities between Damascus and Samaria were granted. Jezreel has been identified as Ahab's fortified chariot and cavalry base. In the Biblical text, Ahab has five important encounters with prophets: Three years later, war broke out east of the Jordan River, and Ahab with Jehoshaphat of Judah went to recover Ramoth-Gilead from the Arameans. During this battle, Ahab disguised himself, but he was mortally wounded by an unaimed arrow (1 Kings 22). The Hebrew Bible says that dogs licked his blood, according to the"