Judges 13 - Introduction

Judges 13-15. Samson and the Philistines. About the same time as the Israelites entered Canaan from the east, the Purasati (of the Egyptian monuments), or Philistines, came over the sea from Caphtor (Crete), and settled in the rich coast-lands between Carmel and Gaza (p. 28). For centuries it was a question which of the two races was to have the mastery. The inevitable conflict began early, and was not ended till the time of David. Samson, Israel's Hercules, is said to have saved and judged Israel in the days of the Philistines (Judges 13:5; Judges 15:20; Judges 16:31), but he did not, like the other Judges, call his tribesmen to arms and lead them into battle. His exploits were single-handed adventures. As a popular hero he is on a somewhat lower level than Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, David, and Samuel, with whom he is named in Hebrews 11:32. That the tales of his escapades were popular can well be believed. The scrapes into which Samson's weakness for women brought him, the way in which he turned the tables on those who thought they had got the best of him, the hard knocks he dealt the uncircumcised, and the practical jokes he played on them must have made these stories great favourites with the story-loving race, such as all the Semites are (Moore, 315).