Deeper Reflection
THE WARS between Israel and the Philistines form an important theological backdrop to the narratives in 1 Samuel. Wars in the ancient Near East in biblical times were theological in nature. When Israel was defeated by the Philistines, they viewed it as God had defeated them before their enemies (vv.2-3). When the Philistines saw Israel carrying the ark of the covenant to battle with them, they saw that “God has come into the camp” and were afraid (vv.5-7). Saul’s calling as king of Israel was to “deliver My people from the hand of the Philistines” (1 Sam 9:15-16). David viewed the army of Israel as “the armies of the living God” (1 Sam 17:26, 36), and God as “the God of the armies of Israel” (1 Sam 17:45). The theological centre of Israel’s wars with the Philistines was to be “the battle is the LORD’s” (1 Sam 17:47). The motif of warfare in the Old Testament continues into the New Testament, but of a different dimension of reality and understanding. Satan attacks God’s people through deception as a disguised “angel of light” (2 Cor 11:13-15) and affliction as a devouring “roaring lion” (1 Pet 5:8-9). We overcome the former by knowing and standing in the truth, and the latter by standing in our faith and God’s agenda of character building (1 Pet 5:9-10). Satan can be the source of tribulation, which can result in death; and victory is to “be faithful until death” (Rev 2:10) to “the First and the Last, the Living One” who has “the keys of Death and of Hades” (Rev 1:17-18).