Judges 14:5

5 Therefore Samson went down with his father and mother into Timnath; and when they had come to the vineries of the city, a fierce and roaring whelp of a lion appeared, and ran to Samson (and ran at Samson).

Judges 14:5 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 14:5

Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to
Timnath
They were prevailed upon to go with him, either because they perceived his affections were so strongly set upon a wife, that they thought it advisable to agree to it, lest it should be of bad consequence to him, or because he let them know that the thing was of God, and what was his design in it:

and came to the vineyards of Timnath;
the land of Canaan was a land of vineyards, and particularly that part of it which was inhabited by the Philistines and Phoenicians; and though we nowhere read of the wine of Timnath, yet frequent mention is made in authors of the wine of Ashkelon, Gaza, and Sarepta, inhabited by the above people; these vineyards seem to have lain somewhat out of Samson's way; but hither he turned on some account or another from his parents, perhaps to eat some grapes:

and, behold, a young lion roared against him;
not a whelp, that is expressed by another word, but one more grown, and is afterwards called a lion simply; and, by the Targum, a lion, the son of lions or lionesses; which seeing him in the vineyards, where he was lurking, came out to meet him, and roared at him in a hideous manner, and came up to him to destroy him: these creatures, though now more rare in those parts, were at this time frequent, and in later times: see ( 1 Samuel 17:34 ) ( 1 Kings 13:24 ) ( 20:36 ) and several writers ^F25 make mention of lions in Mesopotamia and Syria; and Strabo ^F26, and Pliny ^F1 speak of a city in Phoenicia near Sidon, called the city of lions, because perhaps it had been much infested with them; and for a like reason it may be some cities in the tribes of Judah and Simeon were called Lebaoth and Bethlebaoth, ( Joshua 15:32 ) ( 19:6 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Strabo. Geograph. l. 16. p. 514. Curtius, l. 8. sect. 1. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 16.
F26 Geograph, l. 16. p. 520.
F1 Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 20.

Judges 14:5 In-Context

3 To whom his father and mother said, Whether there is no woman among the daughters of thy brethren, and in all my people, for thou wilt take a wife of the Philistines, that be uncircumcised? And Samson said to his father, Take thou this (for a) wife to me, for she hath pleased mine eyes. (To whom his father and mother said, Is there no woman among the daughters of thy kinsmen, or among all our people, that thou must take a wife of the Philistines, yea, of those who be uncircumcised? And Samson said to his father, Get thou her for a wife for me, for she hath pleased my eyes.)

4 But his father and mother knew not, that this thing was done of the Lord (that this thing was done by the Lord); and that he sought occasions against [the] Philistines; for in that time (the) Philistines were lords of Israel.

5 Therefore Samson went down with his father and mother into Timnath; and when they had come to the vineries of the city, a fierce and roaring whelp of a lion appeared, and ran to Samson (and ran at Samson).

6 And the spirit of the Lord felled into Samson, and he rent the lion into gobbets, as if he had rent a kid, and utterly he had nothing in his hand; and he would not show this to his father and mother. (And the spirit of the Lord fell upon Samson, and he tore the lion into pieces, like tearing up a goat kid, and he had utterly nothing in his hands; but he did not tell what he had done to either his father or his mother.)

7 And (so) he went down, and spake to the woman, that pleased his eyes.