Blinding the Eyes

Blinding The Eyes

as a punishment or political disqualification was a heathen cruelty sometimes referred to in the Scriptures and is found exhibited on the Assyrian monuments. The custom of putting out the eyes of captives especially was very common in the East (1Sa 11:2). Thus Samson was deprived of sight by the Philistines (Jg 16:21), and Zedekiah by the Chaldees (2Ki 25:7). In 1820 Rae Wilson saw a number of individuals at Acre who were disfigured in various ways, by a hand amputated, an eye torn out, or a nose which had been split, or partly or totally cut off. In 1826 two emirs had their eyes burnt out, and their tongues in part cut off, by the prince of Mount Lebanon, on account of their having been concerned in some disturbances against his government. In some cases the Orientals deprive the criminal of the light of day by sealing up his eyes with some kind of adhesive plaster (Isa 44:10). SEE PUNISHMENT.