1 Samuel 7:14

And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) The cities.—The immediate result of Samuel’s great victory at Eben-ezer, and the renovated national spirit of the people, was their recovery of the towns and villages which during the late disastrous period had fallen into the Philistines’ hands.

From Ekron even unto Gath.—It is doubtful whether these words signify that at this period these famous Philistine cities fell into the hands of Samuel. This expression more probably indicates on the Philistine side the direction and limits of the space in which the Israelites recovered their lost territory.

The Amorites.—The Amorites here, as representing the most powerful of the old Canaanite tribes, are especially mentioned. This note respecting them tells us that in these glorious days of the restoration of Israel under Samuel, not only were the Philistines of the coast kept in check and gradually subdued, but that the Canaanite tribes of the interior of the land submitted quietly to the old conditions imposed by Joshua at the time of the conquest.

Benson Commentary

1 Samuel 7:14. There was peace — An agreement for the cessation of all acts of hostility. Between Israel and the Amorites — That is, the Canaanites, often called Amorites, because these were formerly the most valiant of all those nations, and the first enemies which the Israelites met with, when they went to take possession of their land. They made this peace with the Canaanites, that they might be more at leisure to oppose the Philistines, now their most potent enemies.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:13-17 In this great revival of true religion, the ark was neither removed to Shiloh, nor placed with the tabernacle any where else. This disregard to the Levitical institutions showed that their typical meaning formed their chief use; and when that was overlooked, they became a lifeless service, not to be compared with repentance, faith, and the love of God and man.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This shows the vigour and success of Samuel's government. He seems not only to have expelled the Philistines from the interior of the Israelite country, but to have attacked them in their own land, and taken from them the cities, with the adjacent territory, which properly belonged to Israel, but which the Philistines had taken possession of. In this war the Amorites, finding the Philistines worse masters than the Israelites, made common cause with Samuel, and assisted the Israelites in their wars against the Philistines.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen—on an open spot between the town and "the crag" (some well-known rock in the neighborhood). A huge stone pillar was erected as a monument of their victory (Le 26:1). The name—Eben-ezer—is thought to have been written on the face of it.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The cities were restored to Israel by the Philistines, who, it seems, were frightened into this restitution by their dread of Samuel, and of the Divine vengeance.

Object. The Philistines had cities and garrisons in Israel’s land after this time; as 1 Samuel 10:5 13:3. Answ. Either therefore those places were not any of these here mentioned; for it is not said that all their cities were restored, but only indefinitely the cities, and those limited to a certain compass, from

Ekron to Gath; or some of the cities now restored by the Philistines, were afterwards retaken by them.

There was peace; an agreement for the cessation of all acts of hostility.

The Amorites, i.e. the Canaanites, oft called Amorites, because these were formerly the most valiant and terrible of all those nations, and the first enemies which the Israelites met with, when they went to take possession of their land. They made this peace with the Canaanites, that they might be more at leisure to oppose the Philistines, now their most potent enemies.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel,.... We nowhere read that the Israelites went out to war with them, and took these cities from them by besieging and assaulting them; but they made a demand of them after the above victory obtained, by which the Philistines were so intimidated, that they quietly surrendered them to them:

from Ekron even unto Gath, and the coasts thereof, did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines; not by dint of sword, but by demand, to which they submitted; and though Ekron, if not Gath, fell to the tribe of Judah by lot, yet were never in their possession; and so are to be understood exclusively here, that not they, but the cities and towns that lay between them and the coasts thereof, which the Philistines had seized upon, these they were obliged to deliver up again to Israel; and if Ekron and Gath were delivered, they were not long held by them, for we soon read of them as in the hands of others:

and there was peace between Israel and the Amorites; who were a principal nation of the Canaanites, and are put for the whole of them that remained; and so Josephus (p) calls them the remnant of the Canaanites; these, finding the Philistines were subdued, were quiet and peaceable, and gave Israel no more trouble.

(p) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 6. c. 2. sect. 2.)

Geneva Study Bible

And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the {h} Amorites.

(h) Meaning, the Philistines.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. from Ekron even unto Gath] The towns which lay on the Danite frontier between these places were restored to Israel, not however including Ekron and Gath themselves. There is no evidence that Gath had ever been occupied by the Israelites, and Ekron was only held for a short time (Jdg 1:18).

the coasts thereof] The territory belonging to these frontier towns. The Sept. reads “the border of Israel.”

there was peace between Israel and the Amorites] The Amorites are mentioned as the most powerful enemies of Israel next to the Philistines. “Amorite” is probably a local not a tribal name, meaning “highlander,” contrasted with “Canaanite,” which means “lowlander.” On the W. of Jordan they lived chiefly in the mountainous country of Judah and Ephraim (Numbers 13:29; Joshua 10:5): E. of Jordan they occupied the high plateau of rich pasture-land between the Jabbok and the Arnon, from which they had expelled the Moabites (Numbers 21:13; Numbers 21:26), and were in their turn dispossessed by the Israelites.

In the Egyptian inscriptions the Amorites give their name to the whole country of Canaan, and in several passages of the O.T. the name appears to be used loosely of the original inhabitants in general. Possibly this is the case here.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - From Ekron even unto Gath. Not that Israel captured these two towns, but they mark the limits upon the borders, within which the Philistines had previously seized towns and villages belonging to Israel, and which Samuel now recovered. There was peace between Israel and the Amorites. In Israel's weakness the remains of this once powerful Canaanitish stock had probably made many a marauding expedition into the land, and carried off cattle and other plunder; now they sue for peace, and unite with Israel against the Philistines. SAMUEL'S CONDUCT AS JUDGE (vers. 15-17). 1 Samuel 7:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In consequence of the defeat at Ebenezer, the Philistines were obliged to restore to the Israelites the cities which they had taken from them, "from Ekron to Gath." This definition of the limits is probably to be understood as exclusive, i.e., as signifying that the Israelites received back their cities up to the very borders of the Philistines, measuring these borders from Ekron to Gath, and not that the Israelites received Ekron and Gath also. For although these chief cities of the Philistines had been allotted to the tribes of Judah and Dan in the time of Joshua (Joshua 13:3-4; Joshua 15:45-46), yet, notwithstanding the fact that Judah and Simeon conquered Ekron, together with Gaza and Askelon, after the death of Joshua (Judges 1:18), the Israelites did not obtain any permanent possession. "And their territory" (coasts), i.e., the territory of the towns that were given back to Israel, not that of Ekron and Gath, "did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites;" i.e., the Canaanitish tribes also kept peace with Israel after this victory of the Israelites over the Philistines, and during the time of Samuel. The Amorites are mentioned, as in Joshua 10:6, as being the most powerful of the Canaanitish tribes, who had forced the Danites out of the plain into the mountains (Judges 1:34-35).