Judges 16:26

Jdg 16:26 And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.

Ver. 26. That I may lean upon them.] And so rest me, who am wearied out, either with grinding in the prison, or now making sport.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jdg 16:26. The pillars whereon the house standeth — It is probable that this house, whether it were a temple or theatre, was no more than a wooden building, raised for the present occasion, much in the form of an amphitheatre, in the midst of which were two large wooden pillars, on which the main beams of the roof rested, so that if these should be pulled away, the building must necessarily fall. Pliny, in the fifteenth chapter of the thirty-sixth book of his Natural History, speaks of two theatres, built by C. Curio, in Julius Cesar’s time, each of which was supported only by one pillar, though many thousands of people sat together in it; and mentions the fall of an amphitheatre, by which fifty thousand people were killed or wounded.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(26) That I may feel the pillars.—The temple of Dagon had a flat roof; but further than this we are unable to conjecture what was its architecture. An attempt to explain it is found in Stark’s Gaza, p. 332, seq.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 (x); 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,

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

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

More literally, “let me rest, and let me feel the pillars, that I may lean upon them.” He feigned weariness with his dancing and singing, and asked to recover himself by leaning against the pillars. The flat roof, from the top of which, as well as under it, spectators could see what was being done on the stage in front, was mainly supported by two pillars. The lords and principal persons sat UNDER the roof, while the people, to the number of 3,000, stood ON the flat roof. When the pillars were removed, the weight of 3,000 people brought the roof down with a fearful crash, and those above fell together with the stones and timbers upon those below, and a great slaughter was the result, Samson himself perishing under the ruins.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

26. The lad that held him — The blind man needs a lad to show him the way, and how humiliating this alone, leaving out other considerations, that the once mighty Samson is now led about by a lad!

The pillars whereupon the house standeth — This passage shows the existence in that early time of pillars or columns in Philistine architecture. In Egypt, Syria, and the farther East, they were doubtless common long before this, and not a few of the broken columns still found in the ruined cities of Palestine probably belong to the same period. It has been a question how such a large building could have been torn down by merely pulling out two pillars. But the possibility of such a thing is hardly to be questioned. The plan of the building and the style of its architecture are now unknown, but from the known plans of many partially ruined temples and palaces of the East we may at least infer that, whatever else it comprised, this house at Gaza had a spacious court or hall, on which rested several rows of columns, supporting an equally spacious roof above. The roof was covered and the great hall filled with men and women, and under such a pressure it is in the highest degree probable that the sudden removal of two central pillars would precipitate the whole house into a heap of ruins. Dr. Thomson, who made observations on the spot, finds a further explanation in the peculiar topography of Gaza. “Most of it,” he writes, “is built on hills, which, though comparatively low, have declivities exceedingly steep. The temple was erected over one of these beyond a doubt, for such was and is the custom in the East. There is such a steep declivity on the northeast corner of the present city, near the old dilapidated castle and palace, and the houses in that vicinity have fragments of columns wrought into the walls, and laid down as sills for their gates. I am inclined to believe,” he adds, “that the immense roof which rested upon these columns was sustained by arches. If this were so, and the centre columns stood on the brow of the declivity, near the old castle, the whole edifice would be precipitated down the hill merely by tearing away those centre supports.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Suffer me, or it may be rendered, Let me rest. He pretended to be tired, and asked to be allowed to rest a few minutes and lean against the pillars. That I may feel, or, literally, and make me feel. He adds his motive for making the requestthat I may lean upon them to rest himself after the severe exercise of dancing.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whereon the house standeth-Whether it were a temple, or theatre, or some slight building run up for the purpose.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

And give me a hold. "Palpare" in old French, as in, "Perhaps my father will touch me."

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.