
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 28, 1990                   TAG: 9006280235
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JERUSALEM                                LENGTH: Short

SAMSON LETTER FOUND, SAYS SCROLL RESEARCHER

A scholar said Wednesday that a portion of a letter from the biblical strongman Samson, possibly a love note to the temptress Delilah, had been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

John Strugnell, head of a 22-member team of scholars with exclusive access to most of the unpublished scrolls, said he recently stumbled on a fragment containing nine words and three lines of the letter.

"It has to be a copy of a letter sent by Samson . . . to Delilah? Unfortunately, we don't know," he said, adding he had deciphered little about what Samson wrote at this point but would publish more details soon.

by CNB