Judges 15:14

14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And 1the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds dropped from 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 They said to him, "We have come down to bind you so that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines." And Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not kill me."
13 So they said to him, "No, but we will bind you fast and give you into their hands; yet surely we will not kill you." Then they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds dropped from his hands.
15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out and took it and killed a thousand men with it.
16 Then Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have killed a thousand men."

Cross References 1

  • 1. Judges 14:19; 1 Samuel 11:6

Footnotes 2

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