1 Samuel 7:13

So the Philistines were subdued. Not completely, for we find that they had garrisons in Israel when Saul was made king; but it was a thorough victory for the time, and was followed up, moreover, by an invasion of Philistia, in which Samuel recovered the towns which had been wrested from Israel upon the western borders of Judah and Benjamin. Moreover, the enemy came no more into the coast of Israel. That is, all invasions ceased. And the hand of Jehovah was against the philistines all the days of Samuel. This, of course, includes the reign of Saul, till within four years of his death; for Samuel continued to he prophet, and to a certain extent shophet, even when Saul was king. The words, moreover, imply a struggle, during which there was a gradual growth in strength on Israel's part, and a gradual enfeeblement on the part of the Philistines, until David completely vanquished them, though they appear again as powerful enemies in the days of King Jehoram ( 2 Chronicles 21:16 ). It is certain, however, that fifteen or twenty years after this battle the Philistines were again in the ascendant ( 1 Samuel 13:19-23 ), and it was this which made the Israelites demand a king ( 1 Samuel 9:16 ). But it is the method of the Divine historians to include the ultimate results, however distant, in their account of an event (see on 1 Samuel 16:21 ; 1 Samuel 17:55-58 ); and Israel's freedom and the final subjugation of the Philistines were both contained in Samuel's victory at Mizpah.