Judges 16:26

26 and Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, "Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them."

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 when the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, "Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has slain many of us."

25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, "Call Samson, that he may make sport for us." So they called Samson out of the prison, and he made sport before them. They made him stand between the pillars;

26 and Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, "Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them."

27 Now the house was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about three thousand men and women, who looked on while Samson made sport.

28 Then Samson called to the LORD and said, "O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be avenged upon the Philistines for one of my two eyes."