Judges 15:14

14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines met him with shouts [of triumph]. But the LORD's Spirit came over him. The ropes on his arms became like strings burned in a fire, and those on his hands snapped.

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 So the men from Judah told him, "We've come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines." Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you won't harm me yourselves."
13 They told him, "We promise we'll only tie you up and hand you over to them. We certainly won't kill you." So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him back from the cliff.
14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines met him with shouts [of triumph]. But the LORD's Spirit came over him. The ropes on his arms became like strings burned in a fire, and those on his hands snapped.
15 Samson found the jawbone from a donkey that had just died. He picked it up and killed 1,000 men with it.
16 Then Samson said, "With a jawbone from a donkey, I've made two piles of them. With a jawbone from a donkey, I've killed a thousand men."
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