What Does Judges 13:14 Mean in the King James?
She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The command to “observe” is a command to guard: the coming life is surrounded by a kept boundary before it is seen.
THE MEANING
You meet preparation here as something already embodied: a life still unseen shapes what its bearer takes in, and the whole charge is to be guarded. Its limits are concrete, nothing from the vine, no wine or strong drink, and no unclean thing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a life’s preparation begins only when its purpose is visible; here, the charge begins before birth.
THE ROOT
תִּשְׁמֹר
tishmor
GROWS FROM
שמר
shamar
Guard, watch over, keep.
The word behind “observe” is תִּשְׁמֹר (tishmor, “guard” or “keep”), from שָׁמַר (shamar). English can make this sound like mere compliance, while the root pictures a charge held intact: the instruction is kept as something entrusted around a life still unseen.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: Watchman, guardian.
שֹׁמֵר
This branch makes the protective sense of “observe” visible: she is charged with guarding what has been entrusted to her.
mishmeret: Guard duty, charge, or watch.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
The command becomes a charge to keep, not just a rule to recall.
THE PATTERN
A life’s shaping and setting apart can begin before its purpose is visible.
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.THE THREAD
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.Judges’ תִּשְׁמֹר (tishmor, “guard” or “keep”) and Genesis’ לְשָׁמְרָהּ (leshomrah, “to keep” or “guard it”) share the root שָׁמַר (shamar, “guard, watch over, keep”). The connection gives “observe” the feel of holding something entrusted, like the first human’s charge to guard the garden.
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