What Does Judges 14:4 Mean in the King James?
But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
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
What looks like a personal pursuit becomes a sought-for opening against the power ruling Israel, and the verse names a deeper source without erasing either.
THE MEANING
You can be inside a conflict whose full meaning is not visible to those nearest it. The verse holds three realities together: his parents do not perceive the LORD’s hand in the matter, Samson actively seeks an opening against the Philistines, and their rule over Israel remains real. A larger purpose does not cancel the domination or make the human pursuit disappear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a divine purpose makes oppression unreal or already over: the Philistines still rule Israel when this opening appears.
THE ROOT
תֹּאֲנָה
to'anah
GROWS FROM
אנה
to meet, encounter, or happen upon
תֹּאֲנָה names an occasion or pretext, tied to אנה, “to meet or happen upon.” Here the opening is deliberately sought, not an interruption that simply lands on Samson; a related form rendered “seeketh a quarrel” in 2 Kings 5:7 gives the word a confrontational edge.
ALSO GROWS
anah: to meet, encounter, happen upon
אָנָה
This verbal root supplies the sense of an encounter beneath the word for “occasion.”
to'anah: occasion, opportunity, pretext
תֹּאֲנָה
This is the verse’s word for the opening Samson seeks, carrying the shade of a purposeful pretext.
mit'aneh: seeks a quarrel
מִתְאַנֶּה
In 2 Kings 5:7 this related form describes seeking confrontation, sharpening the force of Samson’s sought occasion “against the Philistines.”
THE PATTERN
Human action and a larger divine purpose can occupy the same event without sharing the same intention.
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:THE THREAD
And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.The same root אנה (anah, “to meet or happen upon”) appears as מִתְאַנֶּה (mit’aneh, “seeks a quarrel”) in this verse. It reveals the confrontational shade inside Samson’s “occasion”: the opening he seeks is a point of conflict with the power ruling Israel.
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