I was reading Genesis this morning and I came across this verse:

Gensis 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

And that last bit struck my interest because a) the idea of stealing someones front door and walking off with it amuses me, and b) I seemed to remember Sampson actually doing it. (Talk about a piratical joke. And people think God’s no fun…)

Judges 16:2 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.

3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.

So it turns out that he had a good reason. It was a preemptive strike, but they were going to kill him so hitting second wasn’t such a good option. I just wonder how he kept himself from snickering (or waking anyone up while he was ripping the gates out of the ground for that matter.)

What he actually stole was the gate from the wall around the city, and the posts that hold them in place. This is a bit more important than anyone’s front door, because it was what kept attacking armies outside. (And if you read how much Samson kicked these guys asses, you’ll realize that they needed any protection they could get.)

And in case you’re wondering, Samson is in Abraham’s blood line. He was of the tribe of the Danites. The 12 tribes of Israel were from the sons of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham.

Also, if you havn’t seen it yet, The 9 Most Badass Bible Verses over on cracked.com is very amusing. (And just a bit dirty)