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Selected Verse: Judges 16:21 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Jud 16:21 |
King James |
But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
THE PHILISTINES TOOK HIM AND PUT OUT HIS EYES. (Jdg 16:21-22)
the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes--To this cruel privation prisoners of rank and consequence have commonly been subjected in the East. The punishment is inflicted in various ways, by scooping out the eyeballs, by piercing the eye, or destroying the sight by holding a red-hot iron before the eyes. His security was made doubly sure by his being bound with fetters of brass (copper), not of leather, like other captives.
he did grind in the prison-house--This grinding with hand-millstones being the employment of menials, he was set to it as the deepest degradation. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Put out his eyes - Thus effectually, as they thought, preventing any future mischief on his part, while they prolonged their own triumph and revenge. (Compare Num 16:14; Kg2 25:7; Jer 39:7.)
They applied to the two feet fetters of brass Sa2 3:34; Jer 52:11, and made him "grind" - the special task of slaves and captives Exo 11:5; Isa 47:2; Lam 5:13. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| His eyes - Which was done both out of revenge and policy, to disable him from doing them harm, in case he should recover his strength; but not without God's providence, punishing him in that part which had been instrumental to his sinful lusts. Gaza - Because this was a great and strong city, where he would be kept safely; and upon the sea - coast, at sufficient distance from Samson's people; and to repair the honour of that place, upon which he had fastened so great a scorn. God also ordering things thus, that where he first sinned, Jdg 16:1, there he should receive his punishment. Grind - As slaves use to do. He made himself a slave to harlots, and now God suffers men to use him like a slave. Poor Samson, how art thou fallen! How is thine honour laid in the dust! Wo unto him, for he hath sinned! Let all take warning by him, carefully to preserve their purity. For all our glory is gone, when the covenant of our separation to God, as spiritual Nazarites, is profaned. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Put out his eyes - Thus was the lust of the eye, in looking after and gazing on strange women, punished. As the Philistines did not know that his strength might not return, they put out his eyes, that he might never be able to plan any enterprise against them.
He did grind in the prison-house - Before the invention of wind and water-mills, the grain was at first bruised between two stones, afterwards ground in hand-mills. This is practiced in China and in different parts of the East still; and women and slaves are the persons who are obliged to turn these mills. Such instruments were anciently used in this country, and called querns, from the Anglo-Saxon and cweorn and cwyrn, which has the signification of a mill; hence cweorn stan, a millstone: and as quern conveys the notion of grinding, hence, cweornteth, the dentes molares or grinders in the jaws of animals. This clause of the verse is thus translated in the Saxon Octateuch: "And the Philistines laid their fangs, (seized) him soon, and led him away to their burgh, (city), and shut him up in prison, and made him grind at their hand-querne." So late as half a century ago I have seen these querns or hand-mills in these kingdoms. |
21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.
22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.
13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
5 And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.
11 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
34 Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters: as a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou. And all the people wept again over him.
7 Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon.
7 And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.
14 Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up.
1 Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.