SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Samson Love Letter Discovered

A portion of a letter from the biblical strongman Samson, possibly a love note to the temptress Delilah, has been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, a scholar reported last week. John Strugnell, head of a 22-member team of scholars transcribing the scrolls, said he recently stumbled on a fragment containing nine words and three lines of the letter.

Strugnell, the world’s leading expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls, said it was clear from the first few words of the unsigned letter, what he called the “address,” that it was without question from Samson. Strugnell, a Harvard University professor, suggested that it may be a love letter because it fit into the context of “erotic and sapient literature” that developed in the early Jewish period.

Samson, whose story is told in the Book of Judges, was known for feats of enormous strength, such as slaying 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a mule. But he was stopped by Delilah. She seduced him, learned that the secret to his strength was his hair and cut it off while he was sleeping.