Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 14:6

"And the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid; and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done." — Judges 14:6 (ASV)

The Spirit of the Lord. —This implies an increase of courage and strength. The verb translated “came mightily” literally means pervaded, as in Judges 14:19, Judges 15:14, and 1 Samuel 10:10. (Compare to 1 Samuel 18:10—concerning the evil spirit rushing upon Saul; Septuagint, “leapt upon him; ” Vulgate, irruit.)

Rent him. —Josephus (with the intention of making his Greek readers think of Hercules and the Nemean lion) says “he throttled him.” Of course, this was a most heroic exploit, but it is not unparalleled.

Pausanias, in his Eliaca (cited in Suidas, Lexicon, under the entry ‘Polydamas’), related a feat of the athlete Polydamas, who in his youth killed, while unarmed, a great and strong lion in Olympus, 400 B.C. Cases are recorded in which Arabs have done the same. Similar acts of prowess are attributed to David (1 Samuel 17:54) and to Benaiah (2 Samuel 23:28).

He told not his father or his mother. —This reticence shows how free he was from all boastfulness.