Ironically, it is his mother who gives the baby the name Samson (shimshon) (13:24a), a name related to the Hebrew noun shemesh (“sun”), which is also the name of the Canaanite sun-god (as well as in other Semitic) languages. The ending is probably a diminutive (thus, “Little Sun/Shemesh”). This is hardly a name that would be expected after such a double theophany of Yahweh to his mother! Certainly one would have expected a Yahwistic name, one starting or ending with the divine name (e.g., Zechariah [zekaryahu “Yahweh has remembered”], Jehoash/Joash [yeho’ash/yo’ash “Yahweh has given”]). It is
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