Before beginning our study of the life and times of Saul and his encounters with the Philistines, let us look briefly at 1 Samuel 7, which deals with Samuel in his role as judge. There is little in this chapter about Philistia, but the battle between Samuel and the Philistines and its results are well known: " . . . the Philistines drew near to attack Israel; but the Lord thundered with a mighty voice that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion; and they were routed before Israel" (v. 10). It was after this battle that Samuel set up his stone of help or "Ebenezer." We have encountered the name before, in 1 Samuel 4, since it was at Ebenezer that Israel had lost an earlier battle and the ark of the covenant. Now, twenty years after the recovery of the ark, Israel was able to push back and defeat the Philistines at Ebenezer through the help of the Lord God. Whether or not the Ebenezer of chapter 7 is at the same location as the Ebenezer of chapter 4 is difficult to determine, but the significance of the name would not have been lost on the Israelites (McCarter 1980, 146-47, 149).

The most intriguing verse of this passage, however, is 14: "The towns that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath; and Israel recovered their territory from the hand of the Philistines." Perhaps what is meant here is that due to Samuel the cities up to the borders of Ekron and Gath were restored to Israel but not Ekron or Gath itself. The excavations at Ekron have not detected any type of destruction or transition of material culture during this time, but it is possible that the environs around the city were taken by Israel. The verse goes on to say, "There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites." However, there soon would be no peace between Israel and Philistia.