Judges 14 · a question people ask
The LORD's Spirit came mightily on Samson, and he struck thirty men of Ashkelon and gave their clothing to pay the riddle (14:19). How do Christians read that?
The verse says both things: "The LORD’s Spirit came mightily on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck thirty men of them", and "His anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house" (14:19). The chapter has already said the LORD "sought an occasion against the Philistines", who "ruled over Israel" (14:4). Christians read the verse in two main ways. Both agree the text names the LORD's Spirit and Samson's anger in the same verse and passes no verdict on either.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The LORD's work against Philistine rule
Those who hold this view read the Spirit's coming as the LORD giving Samson strength for the work he was born to begin: "He shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines" (13:5). They tie 14:19 to 14:4, "he sought an occasion against the Philistines", and to the book's other deliverers on whom the LORD's Spirit came (3:10, 6:34, 11:29). Of Samson the book later says, "He judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines" (15:20).
Judges 13:5 · Judges 14:4 · Judges 3:10 · Judges 6:34 · Judges 11:29 · Judges 15:20
The LORD's power and Samson's own anger, both told
Those who hold this view note that the same verse says, "His anger burned" (14:19), and that when the men of Judah later ask Samson what he has done, he answers, "As they did to me, so I have done to them" (15:11). They read the Spirit's coming as the LORD's power for his purpose, not as approval of everything Samson did with it. They read Jephthah's story the same way: "Then the LORD’s Spirit came on Jephthah" (11:29), and in the next verse, "Jephthah vowed a vow to the LORD" (11:30).
Judges 14:19 · Judges 15:11 · Judges 11:29-30
The verses
“But his father and his mother didn’t know that it was of the LORD; for he sought an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.”
“The LORD’s Spirit came mightily on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck thirty men of them. He took their plunder, then gave the changes of clothing to those who declared the riddle. His anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house.”