Judges, Ruth: Revised Edition (The NIV Application Commentary)

by K. Lawson Younger

The feat in 16:3 is impressive, a truly miraculous exploit.89 City gates were not light objects. For cities like Gaza, they were typically two stories high, and their heavy posts were set in firm sockets. To haul this gate for some considerable distance to the hill opposite Hebron multiplies the magnitude of the act. The distance between Gaza and Hebron is about forty miles (64.4 km) and involves an ascent of more than two thousand feet. While Samson does not carry the gate structure all the way to Hebron (only to a hill opposite Hebron), he must have carried it some considerable distance. Hebron was the chief city of Judah, and so this seems to be Samson’s rebuttal for what the Judahites did to him (15:11–13). Although he escapes from Gaza by doing this, later he will be enslaved there (16:21).