As millions tuned in to the second part of the miniseries "The Bible" on The History Channel on Sunday night, some were intrigued by the casting choice for one of the characters.

Samson, the Ancient Near East judge known for superhuman strength and long hair, was portrayed by a black actor, leading many online to ponder aloud what Samson must have looked like. On the discussion board for Internet Movie Database entry for "The Bible," someone posted the question and got five pages worth of responses for and against the idea.

On Yahoo Answers, at least three people posted questions pertaining to Samson's race in response to the episode, with a combined amount of over 20 responses.
The Christian Post asked its Facebook fans what they thought of Samson and received over 400 comments, many addressing the question as to whether or not Samson really looked that way.

Dr. Andrew Vaughn, executive director of the American School for Oriental Research located at Boston University and an expert in the Hebrew Bible, told The Christian Post that while Samson was probably not black it is a minor issue. "Historically, the Bible describes Samson's parents as Israelites from the tribe of Dan, so it is unlikely that the historical Samson would have been so dark skinned. However, for the purposes of the mini-series, I did not find the skin color to be important," said Vaughn.

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