And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron. (Judges 16:3)
Conscience-stricken (PP 565) Samson arose at midnight. Perhaps he suspected that he had been recognized, and desired to leave while the streets were deserted. He found the gates closed. The walls of the city were too high to scale.
Would God, despite the great sin that he had committed, intervene to deliver him?
Took the doors.
God had not yet forsaken Samson. Whether the guards were alseep or had wandered off for the moment or even offered some resistance, is not stated. Samson seized the bar that was locked through gateposts and, exerting his magnificent strength, uprooted the posts.
Went away with them.
The Hebrew actually says “pulled them up.”
Carried them.
Samson carried away the whole mass in one piece, the doors and the entire framework.
Before Hebron.
Hebron is about 38 mi. from Gaza. However, it is not stated that Samson walked with the gates and bars on his shoulders all the way to Hebron. He simply deposited them on a hill on the way to Hebron.