Judges 16:26

26 And Samson said unto the lad who held him by the hand, "Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon 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 hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country who slew many of us."

25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, "Call for Samson, that he may make sport for us." And they called for Samson out of the prison house, and they made sport of him and they set him between the pillars.

26 And Samson said unto the lad who held him by the hand, "Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them."

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

28 And Samson called unto 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 at once avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes."