Samson was unable to provide any permanent solution to the Philistine problem; he afforded only temporary local relief. Where Samson belongs in the picture chronologically is not known definitely, but he probably fits best into the second half of the twelfth century B.C. or slightly later. The Philistines were on the coastal plain, and the tribe of Dan felt the pressure some time after Samson to move north (Judg. 18). At least one of the tribal representatives sent north to spy out a new land was from Zorah, Samson's hometown (Judg. 18:2). The territory that appealed to them was in the area of Laish north of the Sea of Galilee, formerly under the sphere of influence of Sidon. Sidon too had suffered attacks from the Sea Peoples, the occurrence of which may have aided the Danites in their conquest of Laish, soon to be renamed Dan. Laish was far removed from Sidon and isolated from the coast by mountains. The presence of the Sea Peoples on the coast would have hindered the Sidonians from exercising their control over any territory to the east.

During Samuel's time, the tribal league of Israel was at war with the confederation of the five Philistine city-states. The Philistines appear to have had parts of Israel almost completely surrounded. They lived on the coastal plain that extended north to the Mount Carmel Range. They controlled the Jezreel Valley, which would figure in the battle with Saul, and they also controlled parts of the Jordan Valley south towards Jericho (that is, to Deir Alla). Samson obviously was a big thorn in the side of the Philistines, and maybe because of the damage Samson had inflicted, the Philistines decided war with Israel was a necessity. Further war between the Philistines and the Israelites began some time around 1050 B.C. The Philistines decided on a bold thrust to cut a gap through the center of Israel. "In those days the Philistines mustered for war against Israel; . . . [Israel] encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek" (1 Sam. 4:1).

The biblical Aphek is believed to have been east of modern Tel Aviv near the source of the Yarkon River, which flows through Tel Aviv into the Mediterranean Sea. Aphek would then have been east of Qasile, which is at the mouth of the Yarkon River. At Aphek also, the Canaanite culture ended in the second half of the thirteenth century B.C., and here, too, the excavator believes that the destruction of the Canaanite city was due to the "enigmatic `Sea Peoples' that marauded the coasts of the Levant and brought an end to the Late Bronze civilization" (Kochavi 1981, 81). The culture that followed the Canaanite one was the Philistine culture, with its ubiquitous pottery among other features. The Yarkon River may have been the northern border of Philistine territory, and it is from Aphek that the Philistines made their attack on the Israelites, who were in the hills to the east of Aphek. The neighboring eastern hills of Ephraim show what are believed to be signs of Israelite settlement, and it is one of these settlements, `Izbet Sartah, that is believed to have been the Ebenezer of 1 Samuel 4. The material culture of both Aphek and `Izbet Sartah display the fluidity of the times. When the Philistine culture at Tell Aphek later was buried into the ground, perhaps during King David's time, the Israelite occupation at `Izbet Sartah also ended, perhaps because Israel was now able to leave this outpost in the hill country.

Here, then, in the area of Aphek, is where the fateful battle of 1 Samuel 4 took place. This battle was the nadir, the lowest point in Israelite history up to that time, and it may be the source of the negative reputation that Philistines have been accorded to this day. The Israelites lost the initial battle with heavy loss of life. Therefore, they resolved to do a deed not unknown among their neighboring cultures; they brought the presence of their God into the battlefield area. Earlier, when the Israelites had left Mount Sinai and wandered through the desert, had not the ark of the covenant always been in front with the priests? "Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, `Arise, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered, and your foes flee before you"' (Num. 10:35). And when Israel crossed the Jordan River to enter the land, did not the ark again lead the way? "When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were in front of the people" (Josh. 3:14). No doubt the Israelites thought of this history as they sent word to Shiloh, twenty miles to the east of Ebenezer, to bring the ark to the battlefield. And so, "The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God" (1 Sam. 4:4). The ploy worked -- temporarily -- for the spirits of the Israelites were buoyed: "all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded" (v. 5). And the Philistines in response cried out, "Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness" (v. 8). But someone there was able to remind the Philistines, "Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, in order not to become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you; be men and fight" (v. 9).

Note the reference in verse 8 to "gods" (elohim in Hebrew, a word commonly used to refer to deity) in the plural form. This is not unusual, coming from the Philistines. Even though we do not yet have much specific information on their religion, we do know that, as was typical of Aegean peoples, they were polytheistic and that evidently they had adopted the Canaanite pantheon. Verse 9 states that the Israelites had been slaves to the Philistines, which no doubt accurately describes the plight of the Judahites, Danites, and Simeonites who bore the brunt of Philistine forays into the Judean hills.

Israel lost the battle near Aphek, and even more importantly, it lost the ark of the covenant. The phrase "and they fled, everyone to his home [tent]" (v. 10) illustrates just how bad the situation was; the soldiers were deserting the army in fear (McCarter 1980, 107). The Israelites had given up on God; the Philistine gods were apparently more powerful than the Holy One of Israel. (Even when the ark was returned later, it was still rejected by Israel for at least twenty years, during which they accepted other gods, "Baals and the Astartes" [1 Sam. 7:4]). The ark of the covenant, containing the tablets of the law, a pot of manna, and the rod of Aaron (Exod. 16:31ff. with niv Study Bible notes; 25:16, 21; Num. 17; and Heb. 9:4), was now gone. The Philistines evidently continued their attack deep into Israelite territory and destroyed Israel's religious center at Shiloh. Eli died at Shiloh, and the place where Samuel grew up played no further role as a religious center in the life the nation.

Shiloh is a fairly easy site to find, thanks in part to a clear geographical description in Judges 21:19: "So they said, `Look, the yearly festival of the Lord is taking place at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.'" The tell of Shiloh, though a small one of eight acres, is a rich one going back to the Middle Bronze IIB period of approximately 1750 B.C. Its excavators believe that already during this period Shiloh had a Canaanite shrine. Destroyed during the sixteenth century B.C. and occupied in part during the Late Bronze period, Shiloh was abandoned before the end of the Late Bronze Age. It was reoccupied in the twelfth century B.C. by Israelites. The material remains in that layer are typical of those associated with the Israelites, namely, collar-rimmed storage jars (according to some but not all archaeologists) and stone-lined silos (five feet in diameter). These are the same type of remains as found from this period at Ebenezer (`Izbet Sartah), twenty miles to the west (see also A. Mazar 1990, 330-48). A total of twenty large storage jars have been found, together with numerous stone-lined silos and other vessels. Carbonized raisins have been recovered, as well as large quantities of carbonized wheat from two of the silos, offerings such as those Hannah brought on a yearly basis (Judg. 21:19; 1 Sam. 1:21, 24; 2:19). With all these discoveries, 1 Samuel 1:24, which describes Hannah's offering to the Lord at Shiloh, comes alive.

Shiloh suffered a fiery destruction in the mid-eleventh century B.C., a destruction its excavators associate with the Philistine defeat of Israel near Aphek and Ebenezer. The excavations at Shiloh attest to the fact that this religious center never regained its prominence. This brings to mind the words spoken by Jeremiah some 450 years later:

It was mentioned earlier that after the battle near Aphek and Ebenezer the Israelites fled to their tents, demonstrating that they were no longer willing to fight in the army of the Lord. In losing the ark of the covenant, they believed that they had lost their God. What Israel did not realize in the eleventh century B.C. and again 450 years later in Jeremiah's time was that the Lord God of Israel was in control. The sequence of events in 1 Samuel 5 teaches this lesson, but the lesson was not learned at the time. There is also an irony in Jeremiah 7:15b, "as I cast out all your kinsfolk, all the offspring of Ephraim." The Judeans of Jeremiah's day would realize that Jeremiah was referring to the conquest of the northern tribes by Assyria in 722 B.C., but Jeremiah's words also applied to Israel of the eleventh century B.C., for Shiloh was located in Ephraim. The Lord God could not tolerate what the sons of Eli were doing, nor the fact that the Israelite army was trying to manipulate God by bringing the ark of the covenant into the battlefield without seeking his will.