‘ And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is before Hebron.'
Samson, however, probably had a good idea of the situation, and took them by surprise. He finished his ‘adventures' at midnight and then he left the house where he was and made for the city gates.
Probably most of the liers in wait were asleep, not expecting him to come at that time, for it would be pointless in view of the fact that the gates were fastened and would not be opened until the morning, and if anyone did spot him they seemingly waited to see what he would do. They knew that he could not possibly escape, and he was not a man to tamper with. None of them expected what actually did happen. For with his huge strength Samson quietly demolished the outer gate and the two gateposts and then lifted the whole on his shoulders and carried them off into the night. They may well have been nail studded with metal coverings which would have added to their weight.
No doubt the sight stunned the watchers to silence and wonder, so that they did nothing. They could probably not believe their eyes. They were probably also unnerved in the darkness, for his fearsome reputation was well known, although they had never seen it at first hand. Perhaps they heard the clatter and noise but were not sure what he was doing. Nor were they going to interfere. The last thing they had expected was for the gates to disappear. And now it was accomplished before their eyes. They must have wondered what powers of darkness were at work. Certainly they would consider that were to be avoided.
And he carried the gates ‘to the top of the hill which is before Hebron'. Hebron was thirty eight miles (sixty kilometres) from Gaza, but this hill may have been a few miles from Gaza going towards Hebron, with Hebron seen in the distance. The feat however was stupendous and left Gaza open to attack. Perhaps that was part of the plan, but if so it would seem to have come to nothing. Alternately it may be that he was expecting them to attack him so that he could use his strength and fighting ability to dispose of a good few more Philistines.
Furthermore he may have intended it as a portent. The gates of cities would often be carried in triumphal processions and that may be what Samson was hinting at here, that this was an omen that the Philistines were doomed. He was preparing the way for Samuel's ultimate victory.
(It was commonplace in those days for trials of strength to take place before main battles, between selected men or between champions, compare for example David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17:4). Great importance was put on the final result. It may be that Samson saw this in the same way).
This event suggests that Samson was naturally hugely strong for there is no thought of the activity of the Spirit of God here, nor would we expect it. His activities with the prostitute, following his connection with death through the use of the jaw of the ass, serves to demonstrate that his dedication as a Nazirite was waning. Pride and arrogance had taken over. All that was left of his vow was his long hair. That would go next.
It is not accidental that the incident of the jaw bone when he came in contact with dead matter, his behaviour with the prostitute, and the shaving of his hair come in sequence. They were the downward steps he took, resulting finally in the destruction of his consecration to Yahweh. First he was careless about touching dead matter, then he sank into sexual misconduct and finally he played fast and loose with his ‘holy' hair. He had become complacent.