And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
The Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times - not probably as it moved the prophets, who were charged with an inspired message, but kindling in his youthful bosom a spirit of high and devoted patriotism. х lªpa`ªmow (H6470) is improperly rendered in our version "at times," as if the divine afflatus was merely occasional; because the purport of this verse is to state that an extraordinary influence began to be exerted upon him for the first time. Pa`am (H6471) denotes an anvil, a tread of the foot, an impression on the senses made with sudden violence; and hence, trop to agitate the mind, to arouse it to a state of powerful emotion.] The word, as employed in the present instance, is evidently expressive of the excitation of the Hebrew youth to feats of chivalrous valour, exceeding anything which he or any of his companions could have exhibited, if they had been left to the exercise of their ordinary strength, in order that he might be prepared, by the experience which he thus had of supernatural aid, to trust in Yahweh when he should be called to fill situations in which nothing short of that aid could enable him successfully to cope with the enemies of his people (cf. Judges 14:6; Judges 15:14).
Eshtaol - the free city. It, as well as Zorah, stood on the border between Judah and Dan.