The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines “hero” as: “1. man of superhuman qualities, favoured by the gods; demigod. 2. illustrious warrior. 3. man admired for achievements and noble qualities. 4. chief male character in poem, play, or story”.
“Everybody loves a hero”, as the saying goes. We admire and adore those men and women of the past who did exploits; people of courage who overcame all obstacles and were fearless in the face of the enemy. I grew up reading Greek mythology, having discovered it while still a very young boy. My favourite characters were Achilles and Heracles (Hercules); but as I got older and learned history, my favourites became real people, headed by Alexander the Great, and my favourite nation of history was Greece; and of the Greek city states, I loved Athens above all.
But with my new-found Saviour and Christian faith, boyhood adulation matured and gave way to an appreciation and love of people who demonstrated faith, mercy, kindness, purity, and especially courage under persecution. I saw the flaws in petulant and vengeful Achilles, womanising Heracles, and the murderous Alexander who killed hundreds of thousands in battle and other means; and they became distinctly less heroic to me. At the same time, I developed a love for and admiration of various biblical characters such as Joseph, King Josiah, the prophet Daniel, Rahab the harlot, and godly Hannah; and later historical figures such as John Calvin, John Bunyan, Charles Spurgeon, the English Reformers and Puritans, and Oliver Cromwell, some of whom have displayed heroism in various ways.
Sadly, even the best of human beings are flawed because we’re fallen creatures, children of Adam and Eve, all sinners; every one of us is born at enmity with God and hostile to him, and our hearts are “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked”, as the prophet Jeremiah tells us. Sir Galahad and Sir Percival are purity personified but fictional heroes; and however much we aspire to be like them, the best we can attain is to be like their contemporary, Sir Lancelot, a brave and noble knight, yet with very human flaws which precluded him from being able to find the Holy Grail.
Samson compared to heroes of mythology
Samson’s life and character fill the dictionary definition of ‘hero’ at the top of this post admirably. Samson was a real man in real history. He was a living hero of early Israel whose exploits have become legendary because of his amazing feats of strength. Even his birth had a supernatural element about it in that it was prophesied like some kind of mythical hero by an angelic visitor who, we discover as we read the narrative, was the second Person of the Trinity.
The story of Samson is told in the book of Judges, chapters 13 to 16. He was born in the time of the judges of early Israel and when the Philistines dominated Israel, approximately 30-40 years before Saul was made king of Israel; and Samson himself was a judge and therefore a leader in Israel. He was the first to strike a blow against Israel’s Philistine overlords. He is a central character in the book of Judges and noted for his faith in the book of Hebrews. He was/is a national hero to Israel and also to Christians, and he had characteristics in common with Achilles and Heracles, two of the greatest heroes of classical mythology.
Samson’s shared characteristics with the mythical Achilles
Samson was to Israel what Achilles was to the Greeks – invincible in battle; and as Heracles was to the Greeks, able to perform impossible feats of strength; and, like these two mythical Greek heroes, Samson was favoured by God who gave him superhuman abilities.
Achilles was a soldier, a warrior, born and trained for war, and a king with his own army. More importantly for him, though, was that his mother was a minor goddess and his father a human. When Achilles was born, his mother took him to the River Styx, which separated earth from the underworld realm of Hades, and dipped him almost completely into its water; the only part of him which made no contact with the water was his heel, by which his mother had held onto him as she dipped him. Thus, the only vulnerable part of his body was his heel – hence the name ‘Achilles Heel’ for a weakness. Achilles was killed by the Hector’s brother, Paris, who shot Achilles in the heel with an arrow during the Trojan War.
Samson’s background was humbler as he worked on his father’s land. He, too, was a leader, who led Israel through very dangerous times, but he had no army; and in the end he gave his life for his God and his people. Nevertheless, he most likely killed more of his country’s enemies in personal combat than did Achilles. And although he single-handedly fought and killed many Philistines (a thousand of them on one occasion), he never defeated them as a nation to deliver Israel from them – that glory was reserved for another flawed hero – King David.
But despite his heroic achievements he was very human. Like Achilles, Samson sought vengeance; but unlike Achilles he was not cruel with it. Achilles’ treatment of the body of Hector, crown prince and much-loved hero of Troy, after killing him to avenge the death of his companion and lover, Patroclus, does not leave Achilles covered in glory. Samson, on the other hand, sought just retribution for the murder of his wife and her father. And he defended Israel even when they didn’t support him when the Philistines came looking for him, by surrendering him to the Philistines so that no Israelite present would be harmed.
Samson’s shared characteristics with the mythical Heracles
It is natural for us to compare Samson with Heracles, more so than with Achilles, because of their superhuman strength. Chronologically, only a century separates them; the myth of Heracles can be traced as far back as the 13th century B.C. and Samson’s life can be dated to the 12th century B.C. Heracles’ exploits were known across the ancient world, and one of his famous Twelve Labours was to kill the Nemean lion, a creature with an impenetrable hide which had been laying waste the countryside. Heracles located him in a cave, strangled him, and wore the pelt as armour ever afterwards. He was able to skin the lion by using its claw, which was sharp enough to pierce or cut metal armour. Thus, both Heracles with his leonine cape, and Achilles with his impenetrable skin, had physical invulnerability. Samson possessed no physical invulnerability but was protected by God himself, God being repeatedly called the shield of Israel and of individual Israelites. But Samson likewise killed a lion, which he met by the wayside, literally tearing it to pieces with his bare hands; and there the similarity ends.
Heracles was a demigod, having been born from a union between Zeus and a human woman, hence his inherent immense strength; whereas Samson was only ever a human being, but one who was given extraordinary physical strength directly by the Holy Spirit. Thus, we see that deities were closely involved in the lives of each of these men.
Samson had prodigious physical strength and he used it to perform great acts for God and his people, Israel. He even made it into the bible’s “Hall of Fame”, being commended as a man of extraordinary faith (Hebrews 11:32); this is quite an honour, considering that the bible is full of people of extraordinary faith. Indeed, only fifteen people, including Samson, are actually named in this list.
Today’s unheroic heroes
Sadly, our modern society has lost sight of what constitutes heroism and heroes. So many people nowadays are proclaimed heroes but haven’t done anything to warrant that illustrious title. Consequently, the concept of ‘hero’ has been watered down and cheapened to the point of being meaningless. A person merely has to do something a little above average and is feted as a hero. Much of what provokes society to lionise a person as a hero is really just everyday bravery at best, or mere neighbourliness, or common decency.
We use superlative terms for nearly everything now and there’s nowhere to go when a truly heroic act or heroic lifestyle is demonstrated. We call our favourite sportsmen ‘heroes’, as we do our favourite politicians, our favourite church leaders past or present, or any famous leader or general from the past. But most of the time, these people are/were simply good at what they do, which has nothing to do with true heroism.
A glaring case in point is the act of terrorism and murder at the Twin Towers in New York, when three thousand innocent people had their lives taken from them. This was a true tragedy and nothing can justify such a horrendous crime. It was a useless waste of life and achieved nothing good or positive.
But society’s response went into emotional and patriotic overdrive as the scale of the tragedy unfolded; and those who died were called heroes. But they weren’t heroes, they were victims; some may even think of them as martyrs; ordinary people going about their daily lives when their lives were suddenly and unexpectedly taken from them. Many of the firemen who attended the scene might more reasonably be regarded as heroic in the way they went about trying to rescue as many as they could, without regard for their personal safety; but to put the victims in the same category detracts from the bravery of the firemen and cheapens the whole concept.
Likewise, we often refer to our military as heroes – but they’re not; the bulk of them are just soldiers or sailors or airmen. Our sentiment, or national pride, or tribalism, provoke us to give them the highest accolades, but this is wrong. However, from the ranks of the military do come true heroes, and their heroism is honoured by the bestowing of highly coveted medals, awarded to a very select few.
So the concept and quality of heroism as defined by the dictionary at the top of this article has become meaningless today; and now we have nowhere to go when we come across a true hero. What can we call a person who has done something truly heroic? How do we describe them and their heroism? The term ‘hero’ has been hijacked and we have nothing with which to replace it. The term ‘hero’ should be used sparingly and with care, as in the military, in order to highlight the true heroism of the hero, that superhuman nascent quality within. We need to distinguish between courage and heroism, between a brave person and a hero; heroism is a superhuman quality or characteristic which is far above ‘normal’ or even ‘outstanding’; that’s why it’s called ‘superhuman’.
Today’s genuine heroes
On the other hand, however, a potential hero today ought not to be compared to Samson or Heracles or Achilles, as I’ve done. Today’s true heroes aren’t supernaturally born nor do they possess godlike powers; but they have something greater than Samson and the mythical heroes. Their strength, their courage, that intangible quality within them which, when activated, causes them to rise above the ordinary and make them superhuman, comes from within themselves. It is this quality which makes them heroic.
But a disaster or great danger is required to reveal the heroic within them and, until then, it lies dormant and unrecognised. Indeed, a hero would deny they were heroic – they see their heroic deed(s) as something that anybody would do under similar circumstances. But it isn’t true that anybody else would have done the same under the circumstances. Not everybody would rush into a burning building, for example, to rescue a mother and child or an old alcoholic man who is too drunk to even know the building is burning around him, while outside the area is surrounded by onlookers. So far are most people from being heroic, unwilling to put their own life or safety on the line under such a circumstance, that they would instead stand back and film the event on their phone so they can post it on their social media platform and get lots of ‘likes’.
Mythical Hector: a truly heroic role model
Prince Hector of Troy is a much better ancient candidate for our modern role model hero. Without supernatural birth, he was the much-loved hero and people’s champion. When he fought Achilles’ lover, Patroclus, who was on the battlefield dressed in Achilles’ armour because Achilles was sulking in the camp, Hector fought and slew him in the belief that it was really Achilles. But when he met with the real Achilles, he was no match for a god, and he lost his life in that encounter. In effect, he fought Achilles twice, knowing the very real danger, but faced him anyway for the sake of his home and his family. He was willing to face the impossible head on, despite the odds. A man of valour, he would rather die with honour than cringe behind the safety of the walls of Troy. Sadly, the wrong man died that day. The true hero was killed by he who was revered by every Greek soldier, but who allowed many of them to die in battle because he was sulking, nursing his injured pride sparked by an argument with Agamemnon, refusing to go into battle until he had his way.
Petulant Achilles, a spoilt brat in the body of a demigod – what a dangerous combination. His prowess in battle wasn’t even his own but was part of the demigod package he inherited by virtue of his mother being a goddess, and was coupled with invulnerability due to the waters of the Styx protecting his worthless hide.
Contrariwise, Hector was on the field of battle day after relentless day defending his city, his home, and his family, while every Greek warrior searched for him so they could claim the honour of defeating and killing Troy’s best. He was noble, patriotic, courageous, a caring and loving husband, and his fighting skills were his own – all that made Hector who he was, all those qualities which make a person heroic, were his own and he owed them to no god and to nothing outside himself. He was much more worthy to be called ‘hero’ than Achilles, but sadly ‘might’ beat ‘right’, and the greater man was killed by the lesser, and his body humiliated and abused day after day by a childish Greek hero who was anything but noble.
Sadly, today’s true heroes are often vilified because they’re on the wrong side of politics, and the ignoble and worthless are lionised and glorified, and the mantle of ‘hero’ is undeservedly ascribed to them.
Biblical heroes
But, as a Christian, I’d rather take my role models from the bible; and from that source is an endless supply of heroes; so many, in fact, that it would be pointless to list them here. For example, one could start with Hebrews chapter 11 because the many people listed therein are there because of their faith and courage demonstrated under great pressure.
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Heb 12:1-4 KJV).