John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 6. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him , etc.] The Spirit of might from the Lord, as the Targum, inspiring him with courage and intrepidity of mind, and increasing his bodily strength: and he rent him as he would rend a kid ; as he came up to him to seize him, he laid hold on him and strangled him, as Josephus says, caught him by the throat, and tore it out; for it does not seem that the carcass was torn to pieces, or limb from limb, by what follows; and this he did with as much ease as if he had had only a kid to deal with: and he had nothing in his hand ; not a staff to keep it off, nor a spear, sword, or knife to stab it with: in this Samson was a type of Christ, who has destroyed our adversary the devil, compared to a roaring lion, ( Peter 5:8) to a lion for his strength, cruelty, and voraciousness; to a roaring lion, making a hideous noise and stir when the Gospel was carried unto the Gentiles, and they were about to be called and espoused to Christ; from among whom he was cast out, and by no other weapon than the ministration of the Gospel, accompanied with the power of Christ, and his Spirit: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done ; when he overtook them, as he quickly did, he said not a word to them of his meeting with a lion and slaying it; which, as it showed his modesty in not blazing abroad his wonderful and heroic actions, in which also he was a type of Christ, but his great prudence in concealing this, lest his great strength should be known too soon, and the Philistines be upon their guard against him, or seek to dispatch him privately; though no doubt he had pondered this in his own mind, and considered it as an omen and presage of the advantage he should have over the Philistines his enemies, whom he should as easily overcome as he had that lion, and that without any instrument of war.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 5-9 - By enabling him to kill a lion, God let Samson know what he could do in the strength of the Spirit of the Lord, that he might never be afrai to look the greatest difficulties in the face. He was alone in the vineyards, whither he had rambled. Young people consider not how the exposed themselves to the roaring lion that seeks to devour, when the wander from their prudent, pious parents. Nor do men consider what lions lurk in the vineyards, the vineyards of red wines. Our Lord Jesu having conquered Satan, that roaring lion, believers, like Samson, fin honey in the carcass abundant strength and satisfaction, enough for themselves, and for all their friends.
Original Hebrew ותצלח6743 עליו5921 רוח7307 יהוה3068 וישׁסעהו8156 כשׁסע8156 הגדי1423 ומאומה3972 אין369 בידו3027 ולא3808 הגיד5046 לאביו1 ולאמו517 את853 אשׁר834 עשׂה׃6213
