What Does Judges 14:6 Mean?
And the breath of the LORD rushed upon him, and he split him as one splits a young goat, and he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.THE KEY
The LORD’s breath rushes upon Samson when his hand is empty, and strength arrives without a weapon.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now of the LORD’s breath meeting a person as force beyond what their hands carry. Samson tears the lion apart, then keeps the act unspoken to his parents.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that power must wait for visible resources: Samson’s hand is empty, yet the lion is torn apart.
THE ROOT
וַתִּצְלַח
vattitslach
GROWS FROM
צלח
tsalach
To advance or prosper; in this form, to come upon with force.
“rushed upon him” in this verse is vattitslach. The verb carries a sense of rushing forward, not merely arriving. Its wider root family also speaks of prospering, so the force upon Samson is movement that breaks through.
ALSO GROWS
tsalach: Advance, prosper, or come upon with force.
צָלַח
This is the root verb behind the force that comes upon Samson.
hitzliach: Cause to prosper or succeed.
הִצְלִיחַ
The causative form shows the same root describing force that moves someone toward an outcome.
רוּחַ
ruach
GROWS FROM
רוח
ruach
Wind, breath, or spirit.
רוּחַ is one Hebrew word whose meanings include wind, breath, and spirit. Here the LORD’s ruach comes upon Samson, keeping the verse’s spiritual force bodily and immediate.
ALSO GROWS
ruach: Wind, breath, or spirit.
רוּחַ
The same word names the force that comes upon Samson, holding these meanings together.
ruachot: Winds or spirits.
רוּחוֹת
The plural form shows the same word family naming forces that move through the world.
וַיְשַׁסְּעֵהוּ
vayeshassehu
GROWS FROM
שׁסע
shasa
To split or tear apart.
“split” in this verse is vayeshassehu. This root names a division made by force. The verse repeats it in “rent him as he would have rent a kid,” making the tearing itself the measure of the act.
ALSO GROWS
shasa: Tear apart or rend.
שָׁסַע
This is the root verb describing what Samson does to the lion.
shosa'at: Split-hoofed; divided at the hoof.
שֹׁסַעַת
The same root describes a hoof split into parts, linking Samson’s tearing to the broader language of cleaving.
THE PATTERN
When the LORD’s breath comes upon a person, its force moves through them into action beyond their visible resources.
And when they came there to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him, and the breath of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them.And when he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him, and the breath of the LORD rushed upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burned with fire, and the bonds tore loose from his hands.But you will take hold of power when the Set-Apart Breath comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the farthest edge of the ground.THE THREAD
And when he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him, and the breath of the LORD rushed upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burned with fire, and the bonds tore loose from his hands.This repeats the same Hebrew verb, צלח (tsalach), for the LORD’s ruach coming mightily upon Samson. Here its effect is unmistakable: the cords fall from his hands, and the force that once tore the lion now also breaks what binds him.
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