Samson takes hold of the massive doors, the posts, and pulls them up, crossbar and all. He hoists it all onto his shoulders, and walks out of there, leaving a gaping hole in the wall, and the city vulnerable. Are we to assume that the Lord put the guards into a sleep so deep they did not wake up even from all the noise?1 Or could it be that since they were likely in the guardrooms asleep, they would have been prevented from hearing him? We do not know; the text is silent on the issue.
3 But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.