The Glory has Departed

The Enemies of God’s People

This is the time of the Judges. Israel is already on a slippery slope downward.

Samuel is the last Judge. He is also Israel’s prophet at this time.

The promise land has not been completely conquered and the peoples displaced.

God had promised to fight for Israel as they went out to battle to take possession of the Promised Land. Yet they did not obey, and thus those who would be conquered are not conquering them.

“When the Israelites refused to honor God alone, and began to practice the idolatry of the surrounding nations, He no longer drove the nations out ahead of them. He left the Philistines and several other nations to test Israel, to teach them to walk with the Lord, and to teach them how to do battle (Judg 2:22; 3:2).”

Adam L. Myers, “Philistines,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

In the context of this passage, we also have a prophecy spoken through Samuel that the House of Eli would be punished because of the sin of Eli’s Sons. God was going to use the Philistines to accomplish this judgement.

What went wrong?