Judges 16:29

Jdg 16:29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.

Ver. 29. And Samson took hold.] Orat et laborat: the heathens could say, Admota manu invocanda est Minerva. Men must pray, but with it do their endeavour; for God is not mocked. They that will be wise to salvation, must not only beg, but dig. {Pro 2:3-5} Samson first prayed, and then bowed himself with all his might. {Jdg 16:30}

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.

Verse 29. The two middle pillars upon which the house stood] Much learned labour has been lost on the attempt to prove that a building like this might stand on two pillars. But what need of this? There might have been as many pillars here as were in the temple of Diana at Ephesus, and yet the two centre pillars be the key of the building; these being once pulled down, the whole house would necessarily fall.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(29) And on which it was borne up.—Rather, as it is given in the margin, and he leaned himself upon them.

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

And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars, upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up,.... Some have objected, that a building so large and so capacious as this was could not be supported by two pillars, and those placed in the middle, and so near to each other that Samson could lay hold on them; on which it has been observed, that the architecture of the ancients is little known to us, and they might have curious and ingenious arts of building, now lost; and several authors have taken notice of two Roman theatres built by Curio, that held abundantly more people than this house did, which were supported only by a single pin or hinge, as Pliny (y) relates; and our Westminster hall, which was built by William Rufus, and is two hundred and seventy feet long, and seventy four broad (z), and has a roof the largest in all Europe, is supported without any pillars at all; add to all which, that mention being made of the two middle pillars of this house, supposes that there were others in other parts of it, though these were the main and principal ones, on which the weight of the building chiefly lay. Kimchi observes, that the word signifies to incline or bend, as if Samson made the pillars to bend or bow; but it is a better sense that he laid hold of them:

of the one with his right hand, and the other with his left; and thus he stood with his arms stretched out, as Jesus on the cross, of whom he was a type, as often observed.

(y) Nat. Hist. l. 36. c. 15. (z) Rapin's History of England, vol. 1. p. 188.

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

Both the. Hebrew adds, "middle" pillars, so that their fall occasioned that the whole temple, (Calmet) excepting perhaps some of the ruins, which are still shewn at Gaza. (Button.) "He tugged, he shook till down they came, and drew

The whole roof after them with bursts of thunder." (Milton) (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Quest. How could so great a building, containing so many thousands of people, rest upon two pillars so near placed together? Here infidels triumph, as if they had got an unanswerable argument against the truth of the Scriptures. But it is a far more incredible and ridiculous thing to imagine that the penman of this book should feign such a circumstance as this is, if it had been false, whereby he would have utterly overthrown the credit of the whole book; and that he should do this before a people that could easily have confuted him; and that people should have so high a veneration for that book in which they knew so notorious a falsehood to be: these things, I say, are for more absurd to believe, than the truth of this relation. But to this I shall add two answers. First, It is no sufficient argument to prove that this was not true, because we do not at this day understand how it was done. There were many great works and excellent pieces of art, some footsteps whereof are left in ancient writers; but the exact way and particular manner of them is wholly, or in a great measure, unknown and lost; so that Pancirollus hath written a whole book of such things. Particularly, the old way of architecture is much in the dark, as is confessed by the learned. It may be pretended, that though there might be curious arts of building in the learned and ingenious part of the world, it is not probable they were among such a rude and barbarous people as the Philistines. But this is certainly a very great mistake; for these people were either in part of, or very near neighbours to, the Phoenicians, from whom it is confessed the arts came to the Grecians. And forasmuch as many things which were concluded by the ancients to be impossible, are by the wit and industry of later ages found to be possible, and certainly true; it cannot be strange if some things now seem impossible to some men, which were then known to be practicable. And he that will venture his faith and salvation upon this proposition, that such a building as this was simply impossible, because he doth not see the possibility of it; or, which is all one, That no man understands more than he doth; will find few admirers of his wisdom. And to question the truth and divinity of the Holy Scriptures, which is so fully and clearly proved by sundry arguments, upon such a nicety as this, is but a more learned kind of doting.

Answ. 2. Instances are not wanting of far more large and capacious buildings than this, that have been supported only by one pillar. Particularly, Pliny, in the 15th chapter of the 36th book of his Natural History, mentions two theatres built by one C. Curio, who lived in Julius Caesar’s time, each of which was supported only by one pillar, or pin, or hinge, though very many thousands of people did sit in it together. And much more might two pillars suffice to uphold a building large enough to contain three thousand persons, which is the number mentioned, Jdg 16:27. Or the pillars might be made two in the lower part merely for ornament sake, which might easily be so ordered as to support a third and main pillar in the middle, which upheld the whole fabric.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The two middle pillars. There may have been, say, four pillars in the front; the two middle ones standing near together, and the other two nearer the sides.

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

Shimshon embraced. He grasped, "embrasser" in old French, as in "The man trembled, and was embraced" —he was embraced in a woman's arms.

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.