“However, Shimshon stayed in bed until midnight; then he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts as well, pulled them up, bar and all, hoisted them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the hill overlooking Hevron.”-Judges 16:3
When we last left off, Samson had ventured all the way from his home in Tzorah to visit a prostitute in Gaza.
And yes folks, this is the very same Gaza we hear about in the news all the time.
Now what I find interesting about this situation is that the Philistine army must have known Samson was in town.
So why didn’t they go after him?
I guess they were hoping Samson would simply sow his wild oats and then get the hell out of town without hurting anybody.
However, the local townsfolk of Gaza weren’t so practical in their thinking.
When they heard Samson was in town, they wasted no time in setting up a trap for him.
They encircled the area where he was staying with plans to kill him when he came out in the morning.
My thoughts?
Good luck with that.
Apparently, these foolish Gazans hadn’t gotten wind yet as to how strong Samson was.
They were literally setting the stage for another massacre with themselves as the victims.
But fortunately for them, Samson threw a monkey wrench into their plans.
Instead Samson got up in the middle of the night to steal away.
Now your average person would have escaped quietly without raising any suspicions…
But Samson being the kind of guy who never did anything involving peace and quiet had other plans.
He went to the city gates, broke the lock with his bare hands, tore the gates off of their foundations and walked off with them.
Can you say HOLY COW?!
Imagine waking up in the morning to go for a leisurely stroll…
You’re headed towards the city gates but notice something unusual…
The city gates aren’t there!
You stop for a second and scratch your head…
Did I go down the wrong path?
Baffled you walk closer and all you see are gaping holes where the massive gates used to be.
However, a few seconds later another gaping hole has emerged.
This gaping hole happens to be your mouth…
Because you just realized what happened…
That crazy Hebrew Samson who everyone’s been talking about must’ve ripped those gates out of their very foundations.
Yet you still can’t believe it.
Those city gates were massive.
They were constructed out of enormous and heavy wood planks that were nailed together with long and thick iron spikes.
They were also covered over with a layer of iron coating…
Meaning they were virtually fire-proof as well.
No man would in his wildest dreams would ever imagine he could lift them up all by himself.
But Samson didn’t just remove the gates.
He hoisted them up on his shoulders…
And walked off with them.
We’re told he carried them up to the top of the hill overlooking Hevron.
A little clarification here.
The town of Hebron was located a whopping 40 miles away…
And it was uphill all the way at about a 3000-foot elevation…
Samson probably didn’t carry them that whole distance.
He probably walked some distance with the gates on his shoulders in the direction of Hebron until he arrived at a point where he could see Hebron…
And then he dropped the gates there.
Either way, this was a jaw-dropping display of superhuman strength.
Actually “superhuman” ain’t the correct word to use here.
Because there was nothing “human” about it…
Super or otherwise…
This was divine and supernatural (above and beyond nature) power on display at its most magnificent.
It just goes to show what men are capable of when moved by the Holy Spirit of the Lord.
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