Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 16:3

"And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and laid hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron." — Judges 16:3 (ASV)

Arose at midnight. — Apparently—though the narrative again omits all details—he had been told of the plot and found the gates unguarded; unless we are to suppose that he killed the guards without awakening the city.

Took. — Rather, grasped or seized.

The two posts — i.e., the side-posts.

Went away with them, bar and all. — Rather, tore them up, with the bar. The bar was the one that fastened the two gate doors (or valves) together.

Gaza, as we can see from the site of its walls, had several gates. The site of the gate traditionally pointed out is on the southeast. It may have been the smaller gate, beside the main gate, that he tore up in this way.

In Islamic legend, Ali uses the gate of Chaibar as a shield, which may be a somewhat confused echo and parallel of this event (Pococke, Historia Arabum, p. 10).

That is before Hebron. — It is not implied that Samson walked with the gates and bars on his shoulders the nine miles to Hebron. Instead, it was probably (as local tradition says) to El Montar, a hill in the direction of Hebron, from which the hills of Hebron are visible. Pliny, in his Natural History (vii. 19), cites many instances of colossal strength, but this narrative distinctly implies that Samson's strength was a supernatural gift, arising from his dedication to God. Carrying away the gate of his enemies would be understood in the East as a particularly significant insult. For example, “When Almansor took Compostella, he made the Christians carry the gates of St. James’s Church on their shoulders to Cordova in sign of his victory” (Ferraras, Geschichte von Spanien, Vol. III, p. 145, quoted by Cassel).