The Philistines lived on the southwest coastal plain of the nation of Israel, along the Mediterranean. They were not native to Canaan; they were among the groups of Sea Peoples, with their origins in the islands of Crete (Genesis 10:13–14; Amos 9:7; Jeremiah 47:4) and Cyprus (Numbers 24:24). They were a warlike group. They swept across the Mediterranean Sea and into Canaan not long before Israel entered Canaan to conquer it. It seems that their sights were originally on Egypt, and they were nearly successful at one point in invading it, but Rameses III defeated them in around 1190 BC, and settled the defeated forces in the coastal towns of southern Canaan. In the mid-twelfth century the Philistines drove out their Egyptian overlords and formed a federation of five major city-states: Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza.¹

Joshua did not conquer them (Joshua 13:2), and they were the only enemy able to resist the advances of Judah (Joshua 13:2). The five lords of the Philistines are included in the list of nations left in Canaan to test and train Israel in the ways of war (Joshua 13:2). They became a problem for Israel in the days of Shamgar (Judges 3:31), and continued to be the chief threat to Israel, into the time of Samuel and Saul, and of David. They were constantly looking to expand their territory eastward, from the coastal plain into the foothills of Israel. This is what led to the conflicts with Israel in the days of the judges. Of all Israel’s enemies in the book of Judges, the Philistines were the most persistent and threatening.²