Judges 16:26

26 And Samson said to the boy that governed his steps, Suffer thou me, that I touch the pillars on which all the house standeth (Allow me to touch the pillars on which the whole house standeth), (so) that I (may) be bowed upon those, and rest a little.

Judges 16:26 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 16:26

And Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand
And led him about; as nothing is more common now than for a blind man to be led by a boy:

suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth;
he might by information know in what manner the house was built, that it was supported by pillars, if he had never been in it before when he had his sight; and he might understand, by some means or another, that he was near these pillars, and placed between them, though being blind, did not know which way to direct his hands towards them to feel them, as he proposed to do, and therefore desired the lad that led him to guide his hands towards them:

that I may lean upon them;
being, as he might at least pretend to be, weary, as Josephus says ^F24; either by grinding at the mill, or through being led to and fro in this house, that all might see him, and cast their flouts and jeers at him,

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 12.)

Judges 16:26 In-Context

24 And the people seeing also this thing praised their god (And the people seeing this thing also praised their god), and said the same things, (Yea,) Our god hath betaken our adversary into our hands, which did away our land, and killed full many men.

25 And they were glad(dened) by (the) making of feasts, and then when they had eaten, they commanded that Samson should be called, and (to) play before them; the which was led out of (the) prison, and played before them; and they made him stand betwixt two pillars.

26 And Samson said to the boy that governed his steps, Suffer thou me, that I touch the pillars on which all the house standeth (Allow me to touch the pillars on which the whole house standeth), (so) that I (may) be bowed upon those, and rest a little.

27 And the house was full of men and of women, and (all) the princes of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand of men and of women (and also about three thousand men and women), beholding from the roof, and from the solar, (while) Samson (was) playing.

28 And he called inwardly the Lord, and said, My Lord God, have mind on me, and my God, yield thou now to me the former strength, that I venge me of mine enemies, and that I take one vengeance for the loss of my two eyes. (And he inwardly called upon the Lord, and said, Lord my God, remember me, and my God, yield thou now to me the former strength, so that I can avenge myself on my enemies, and so that I can now take one vengeance for the loss of my two eyes.)