Judges 13:1-25

F. The sixth apostasy chs. 13-16

"From chapters 13 to 18, the author concentrates on the tribe of Dan, which had been one of the largest and most prominent tribes during the wilderness march (Numbers 2:25-31). In the period of the judges, however, Dan seemed helpless against the Amorites (Judges 1:34) and moved northward to find new territory (chs. 17-18). Contrasted with these failures are the exploits of Samson, whose personal achievements are detailed in four chapters. Yet his own life was a strange mixture of the strength and weakness that epitomized the tragic conditions within the tribe itself." [Note: Wolf, p. 460.]

1. Samson’s birth ch. 13

The purpose of this chapter is to show how the Lord provided the Israelites with a deliverer from their Philistine oppressors.

The Philistine oppression 13:1

The translation "again did" in Judges 13:1 implies that the Philistine oppression followed the Ammonite oppression chronologically. However, the Hebrew idiom these words translate does not necessarily mean that. It can also mean, and in view of Judges 10:6-7 must mean, the Israelites "continued to do" evil. The Philistines and the Ammonites began oppressing Israel at approximately the same time (ca. 1124-1123 B.C.). [Note: See Robert G. Boling, Judges, p. 85.]

"More than any previous agent of deliverance . . . Samson demonstrates that the divinely chosen leaders were part of Israel’s problem rather than a lasting solution." [Note: Block, Judges . . ., p. 392.]

The present 40-year oppression by the Philistines did not end until Samuel, also a judge (1 Samuel 7:6), defeated them at Ebenezer (1 Samuel 7; ca. 1084 B.C.). Samson only began to deliver Israel from the Philistines (Judges 13:5). At the end of his life and story, things in Israel were worse than at the beginning. The Philistines continued their oppression of the Israelites into King David’s reign.

I have already referred to the antagonism of the Philistines on Israel’s southwestern flank (Judges 3:31; Judges 10:7). This nation continued to increase in power during the period of the judges and became Israel’s major enemy by the end of the amphictyony and the beginning of the monarchy.

The Philistines were, ". . . a powerful sea people that settled in the coastal strip in S.W. Palestine, extending along the Mediterranean from Joppa to S. of Gaza . . . about 50 miles long and 15 miles wide. . . .

"The Philistines are said to have come from Caphtor [Crete] (Amos 9:7; Jeremiah 47:4; cf. Deuteronomy 2:23). . . .

"The Philistines were a non-Semitic people. . . . They appear as a tall, Hellenic-looking people. . . .

"Their power and threat to Israel were due to a large extent to their political organization. It consisted of a league of five great cities [Gaza, Ekron, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Gath]. . . .

"Besides their warlike nature, effective political organization and economic power, as the result of the fertile farming section they inhabited, Philistine militarism, which was a continual threat to Israel, was explainable by their early control of the iron monopoly. Iron came into widespread use in Palestine around 1200 B.C. Philistines knew the secret of smelting it, which they evidently got from the Hittites. They were able to import, smelt, and forge iron and made use of various iron military weapons. By enforcing a rigid monopoly over Israel, the Philistines were able to make great strides in military encroachments upon Israelite territory [cf. 1 Samuel 13:19-22]. . . .

"The Philistines were intensely religious. They celebrated their victories in the ’house of their idols’ (1 Samuel 31:9) [cf. Judges 16:23-27]. . . . Dagon . . . ’fish’ was represented with the hands and face of a man and the tail of a fish. . . . To . . . him they offered thanksgiving when they had taken Samson (Judges 16:23-24)." [Note: Unger’s Bible Dictionary, s.v. "Philistines," by Merrill F. Unger, pp. 859-61.]

The Philistines (Caphtorim) evidently lived in Canaan in small numbers as early as the patriarchal period (Genesis 21:32; Genesis 26:1; cf. Deuteronomy 2:23). However, their major migration into Canaan took place in the first quarter of the twelfth century B.C. (1200-1175 B.C.). [Note: John Garstang, The Foundations of Bible History: Joshua, Judges, p. 287. See also Trude Dothan, "What We Know about the Philistines," Biblical Archaeology Review 8:4 (July-August 1982):20-44.] This would have made them more recent settlers in Canaan than the Israelites. Samson evidently began his judgeship about 1105 B.C. One writer argued that Samson was roughly contemporary with Jephthah and Gideon, which would place the beginning of his judgeship earlier. [Note: Washburn, p. 424.] He based his view on the fact that the writer recorded no rest period that preceded the beginning of Samson’s judgeship (Judges 13:1). He saw a continuation of the conflict with the Philistines mentioned in Judges 10:7. These arguments seem weak to me.

The Philistines continued to frustrate the Israelites until David subjugated them early in his reign (ca. 1004 B.C.; 2 Samuel 5:17-25). However, the Philistines continued to oppose the Israelites until the Babylonian Captivity removed both people groups from the land (cf. Isaiah 14:29-32; Jeremiah 47; Ezekiel 25:15-17; Amos 1:6-8). The land of the Philistines became known as Philistia. "Palestine" is a Greek word that comes from Philistia. The Roman emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-138) gave Canaan the name Palestine.

The writer recorded no Israelite cry for help from the Philistine oppressors. Later we shall see that the Israelites did not cooperate with Samson in opposing this enemy. The Philistines appear to have been attractive neighbors. The Israelites cooperated with them readily instead of opposing them and driving them from the Promised Land.