Judges 15:14

14 Samson approached Lehi. The Philistines came toward him shouting. Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Samson with power. The ropes on his arms became like burned thread. They dropped off his hands.

Judges 15:14 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 15:14

And when he came unto Lehi
The place which was afterwards so called, from what happened there at this time, and where the Philistines were spread, ( Judges 15:9 ) this, according to Bunting F11, was six miles from Etam:

the Philistines shouted against him:
for joy that they had got him into their hands, and in the circumstances he was, being bound, so that they had nothing to fear from him:

and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him:
as it at times did, and had done before; the Targum is,

``the Spirit of might from the Lord,''

which gave him courage and resolution of mind, and great strength of body, even while he was speaking, as a token of the wonders God more than he had at other times:

and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt
with fire;
as easily parted as the flax when fire takes it, which is consumed at once:

and his bonds loosed off from his hands;
by which it appears that both arms and hands were bound with the cords; his arms were pinioned close to his body, as well as his hands were tied together; and these, as in the original, "melted away" F12, like wax before the fire, or snow before the sun, so easily were these bands separated from him; this may be an emblem of Christ's loosing himself from the cords of death, ( Acts 2:24 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F11 Travels, p. 116.
F12 (womy) "diffuxerunt", Tigurine version; "liquefacta sunt", Piscator.

Judges 15:14 In-Context

12 The men of Judah said to him, "We've come to tie you up. We're going to hand you over to the Philistines." Samson said, "Take an oath and promise me you won't kill me yourselves."
13 "We agree," they answered. "We'll only tie you up and hand you over to them. We won't kill you." So they tied him up with two new ropes. They led him up from the rock.
14 Samson approached Lehi. The Philistines came toward him shouting. Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Samson with power. The ropes on his arms became like burned thread. They dropped off his hands.
15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed hold of it and struck down 1,000 men.
16 Then Samson said, "By using a donkey's jawbone I've made them look like donkeys. By using a donkey's jawbone I've struck down 1,000 men."
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