“And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.”
The Gazites are told, "Samson has come here," and they surround the place all night to ambush him (וַיִּשָּׁמְרוּ אוֹתוֹ כֹּל־הַלַּיְלָה בַּשַּׁעַר הָעִיר). Yet at midnight Samson rises, grasps the doors of the city gate and posts, and pulls them up—lock, bar, and all—and places them on his shoulders (וַיִּשָּׁמַר־לוֹ כׇּל־הַלַּיְלָה בַּשַּׁעַר הָעִיר וַיִּשְׁתְּקוּ כׇּל־הַלַּיְלָה). His escape is absurdly miraculous: the entire city waits in ambush, yet Samson simply removes the gates and leaves, carrying them as a physical trophy of his strength. The image is iconic but also grotesque—a man carrying a city gate as easily as another man might carry a fish. The deed demonstrates the futility of human strategy before divine power, yet also suggests Samson's contempt for his enemies' futile attempts at capture. He leaves no dead, no devastation—only the humiliation of a fortress breached and stripped.
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