1 Samuel 7 · a question people ask
7:13 says the Philistines stopped coming within Israel's border. Why are they back a few chapters later?
7:13 says, "So the Philistines were subdued, and they stopped coming within the border of Israel. The LORD’s hand was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel." Yet a few chapters later there is "the garrison of the Philistines" at the hill of God (10:5), "The Philistines assembled themselves together to fight with Israel" (13:5), and "There was severe war against the Philistines all the days of Saul" (14:52). Samuel was still alive then; his death comes at 25:1. The chapter doesn't set these side by side, and Christians read 7:13 in two main ways. Both agree that the LORD gave Israel the victory at Mizpah (7:10), and that the later verses mean what they say.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The years Samuel led, before the king
Those who read it this way take 7:13-14 with the verses around it, which close with Samuel's judging (7:15-17). The next part begins, "When Samuel was old" (8:1), and the people ask for a king "that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles" (8:20). On this reading 7:13 describes the years after Mizpah while Samuel led Israel, and the garrison of 10:5 and the wars of 13:5 and 14:52 belong to the new part, when Samuel was old and Israel had asked for a king.
1 Samuel 7:13-17 · 1 Samuel 8:1 · 1 Samuel 8:20
The LORD's hand, all Samuel's life
Those who read it this way lean on the second half of 7:13: "The LORD’s hand was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel." The Philistines came again, but in Samuel's lifetime the LORD kept giving Israel the victory over them: "So the LORD saved Israel that day" (14:23), and after Goliath, "The men of Israel and of Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines" (17:52). On this reading "they stopped coming within the border of Israel" (7:13) tells what followed the rout at Mizpah (7:10-11), not every year after it.
1 Samuel 7:13 · 1 Samuel 14:23 · 1 Samuel 17:52 · 1 Samuel 7:10-11
The verses
“So the Philistines were subdued, and they stopped coming within the border of Israel. The LORD’s hand was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.”
““After that you will come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is; and it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a lute, a tambourine, a pipe, and a harp before them; and they will be prophesying.”
“The Philistines assembled themselves together to fight with Israel: thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, eastward of Beth Aven.”
“There was severe war against the Philistines all the days of Saul; and when Saul saw any mighty man or any valiant man, he took him into his service.”