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In Judges 14:6 (NASB)

And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, so that he tore it apart as one tears apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

In Judges 15:14 (NASB)

14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him so that the ropes that were on his arms were like flax that has burned with fire, and his restraints dropped from his hands.

Yet in Judges 16:3 (NASB) there's no mention of the strength coming from God

Now Samson lay asleep until midnight, and at midnight he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two doorposts, and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron.

Does that mean Samson did that by his own strength?

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The act of pulling the very heavy door from their moorings was certainly a superhuman act - else anyone could have done it and the city would have been unsafe from intruders.

There are many other incidents of superhuman strength recorded in Samson's story that do not have the preface about the "Spirit of the Lord" coming upon him such as the several cases where Delilah tried to entrap him (unsuccessfully) in Judges 16. The incident with the foxes is in Judges 15 is similar.

Thus, "The spirit of the Lord came upon him [Samson]" is not an essential preface for Samson to exercise his supernatural ability.

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  • Isn't that backwards? Surely, to the extent that "The spirit of the Lord came upon him" is not essential, it has more meaning whenever it is used… Mar 20, 2021 at 17:46
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Did Samson pulled the door off by his own strength?

Yet in Judges 16:3 (NASB) there's no mention of the strength coming from God

No, certainly Samson did not pull the door off by his own strength, God's spirit became operative upon him. Why? The city gates are large and possibly covered with metal to prevent them from being set on fire by the enemy, and with the doorpost must have been a very heavy load.

Samson carried the door and the doorpost from Gaza on the coast at sea level, to Hebron to the east at an altitude of 3000 feet or 900 M, a real uphill trip, and a distance of 37 miles or 60Km. Samson could only perform such a deed only if God's spirit was operative on him.

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  • Why the downvote, please explain so that I can improve the answer, Tks. Mar 19, 2021 at 17:56
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    it could've been given before when the answer was VLQ (when you mistakenly wrote the answer to another question here) Mar 19, 2021 at 19:12

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