Scripture says of Samson that "the spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan, between Zoreah and Eshtaol" (Judges 13:25). The rabbis reading that verse paused on the Hebrew word for "move." It is a strange word. It can mean to step, to strike, or to ring like metal struck against metal.
Rabbi Yehudah took the word in the sense of stepping, and imagined Samson's stride as something no ordinary man could match. In a single step, he said, Samson crossed the distance from Zoreah to Eshtaol, a span of two miles or more. One foot down in one town, the other foot planted in the next.
Another rabbi took the word in the sense of ringing. He pictured the hair on Samson's head, the thick Nazirite locks that had never felt a razor, rising at their roots when the spirit came upon him. The hairs clashed one against another like a row of hanging bells, and the sound carried for miles. From Zoreah to Eshtaol, people heard the tinkling and knew the judge was stirring.
The Hebrew Bible gives us a sentence. The rabbis give us two pictures: a man whose legs could span valleys, and a man whose hair sounded like a warning bell. Both readings refuse to let "the spirit of the Lord moved him" remain a vague inner experience. When God moves a person, something in the world changes that you can see or hear.