Josephus' Version of Samson

Abstract

It has long been known that many of the homiletic expositions of Scripture known as midrashim are lost and are to be sought for in non-rabbinic writings. Many of them may be recovered in such works as the Septuagint; in Pseudepigraphic works such as the Books of Enoch, Jubilees, the Syrian Apocalypse of Baruch, and IV Esdras; in historians (extant in fragmentary form) such as Demetrius, Pseudo Hecataeus, Eupolemus, Pseudo-Eupolemus, Artapanus, Aristeas, Cleodemus-Malchus, and Thallus; in poets (likewise extant only in fragments), such as Philo the Elder, Theodotus, and Ezekiel the tragedian; in Philo; in the New Testament; in Pseudo-Philo1s Biblical Antiquities; in writings found in the Dead Sea caves, particularly the Genesis Apocryphon; in Josephus; in such Latin Church Fathers as Tertullian and Jerome; in such Greek Church Fathers as Origen; and in such Syriac Fathers as Aphrahat and Ephrem. Rene'e Bloch and Geza Vermes^ have, through sample studies, attempted to explain differences among these midrashim by postulating a continuous and interconnected midrashic tradition and by tracing the historical development of this tradition. It is here pro posed to contribute to the explanation of these differences in midrashic exposition by presenting a supplementary theory, at least so far as Josephus^ is concerned, namely that he has placed his personal Hellenized imprint on the Biblical narrative, and that his portrait is strongly influenced by his concern for defending the Jews against anti-Semitic charges. In the example here chosen, that of Samson, we shall see that the very characteristics which distinguish Josephus' account from the rabbinic expositions — possessed of the four cardinal virtues, and with increased erotic, heroic, and dramatic interest and decreased magical and divine interest — are typically Josephan־^ rather than a stage in the historical development of the midrashic tradi tion. On the other hand, the rabbinic midrashim are con cerned with word play, with the divine and the miraculous, and with the deflation of the heroic stature of Samson,