What Does Judges 15:14 Mean?
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.
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 when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.THE KEY
Here the LORD’s breath makes release elemental: the bonds themselves become burned flax and melt away.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks now as an image of total release: the LORD’s breath surges upon Samson; the cords become like flax burned by fire, and the bindings melt off his hands. What holds him is reduced and dissolved.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a bond’s grip proves its permanence: the cords burn away and the bands melt from the hands.
THE ROOT
רוּחַ
ruach
GROWS FROM
רוּחַ
ruach
Breath, wind, moving air; also spirit.
The word translated “Spirit” is רוּחַ (ruach, breath/wind/spirit), one word carrying all three senses. The same word names the LORD’s presence coming upon Samson, giving that presence the movement and force of breath or wind.
ALSO GROWS
ruchot: Winds; the plural form of ruach.
רוּחוֹת
The plural retains the word’s concrete sense of moving air, showing how closely “spirit” and “wind” remain joined.
ruchi: My breath or spirit.
רוּחִי
The possessive form keeps breath and spirit within the same word-family.
צָלְחָה
tsalchah
GROWS FROM
צָלַח
tsalach
To advance, surge, or prosper.
“rushed upon” in this verse is tsalchah. The verb behind “came mightily” is צָלְחָה (tsalchah), from צָלַח (tsalach, advance or surge). This root also carries the sense of prospering or succeeding, so the verse pictures the LORD’s breath as an active force surging upon Samson.
ALSO GROWS
tsalach: To advance, succeed, or prosper.
צָלַח
This form makes the root’s sense of forward movement visible beneath the surge upon Samson.
hitzliach: To cause to prosper or succeed.
הִצְלִיחַ
The causative form shows the root’s movement as an effect brought about in someone.
וַיִּמַּסּוּ
vayyimassu
GROWS FROM
נָמַס
namas
To melt or dissolve.
The verb translated “loosed” carries the image of melting or dissolving. The restraints lose their solid form at the very place they bind Samson, making release as complete as their disappearance.
ALSO GROWS
namas: To melt or melt away.
נָמַס
This form names the melting that gives the verse its image of bonds losing their substance.
nimmas: To be melted or dissolved.
נִמַּס
The passive form makes clear that what is held can itself be dissolved.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s breath arrives as force that turns binding into release.
He brings them out of darkness and the valley of deepest darkness, and tears their bonds apart.The breath of the Lord LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the bowed ones; he has sent me to bind up the broken of heart, to proclaim flowing freedom to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are chained.Now the LORD is the breath, and where the breath of the LORD is, there is unbinding.THE THREAD
And the breath of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be turned into another man.The Hebrew verb צָלְחָה (tsalchah, surge or advance) in Judges shares its root with the verb for the Spirit coming upon Saul. In Samuel the surge transforms Saul; in Judges it accompanies the melting of Samson’s restraints.
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