Did God set the innocent Philistines up so that he could kill them?

Question

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. Judges 13:1

This takes place right before God uses brother Samson to attack Philistine

Answer 1

Sho - You know the answer as well as anyone. Your last question you wanted to know who God killed the Philistines...now you quote a scripture about the Philistines being placed over the Israelites by God.

The Israelites, God's chosen people, were a stubborn and willful lot who often strayed from the path God gave them. From time to time in the Old Testament, God took action to bring them back to him. Wars between tribes were common to the time in history. They were not even all religion based. cal

Answer 2

God punishes everyone who sins, sometimes as a judgment on criminals who break his law, and to save the victims from the oppressors, and sometimes as corrective punishment to teach people a lesson.

In Judges God uses the Philistines to punish Israel because Israel breaks its treaty or covenant with God, and he uses Samson to punish the Philistines because they do what they do out of greed and cruelty and also to let them know that Israel's God is living and powerful so that hopefully they might learn that Israel's God was the true God.

In the ancient way of thinking (and as we can see from these forums, also in modern thinking amongst some people), a country's god gave it victory in battle over other countries if it was more powerful than the gods of the defeated countries. You can see this theology of war on ancient middle eastern wall carvings in museums which always have symbols of the gods fighting in battles. So because they had this mentality, God spoke to them in terms they could understand, even in the way their wars went.

That is why Samson gets his strength back when his hair grows back. The Philistines brought him to their feast in the temple of their god to show that their god had given them victory over Israel's god, represented by the prisoner Samson, champion of Israel. Samson brings down the roof and kills himself and a lot of them, but those Philistines and Israelites who then saw his dead body will have seen his long hair, a sign of his dedication to Israel's god and realised that Israel's god was the true God.

See also the story of the Philistines capturing the ark in 1 Samuel chapters 4 - 6. First the priest Eli fails to curb the abuses of his sons, so God lets the Philistines beat the Israelites in battle and capture the ark. The Philistines take it as a war trophy to their temple and put it in front of their god to show that their god had defeated Israel's god. God then makes the idol of their god fall on its face and break, and also sends the Philistines diseases and pests which the attribute to the ark, so they get the idea and respectfully send it back to Israel with some offerings to atone for dissing Israel's god.

When the Israelites get the ark back, some of them disrespectfully open it and look inside and God strikes them dead. He didn't strike the Philistines dead, but he strikes the Israelites dead. This is because the Philistines didn't know any better but the Israelites should have known better since God had already made it clear to them that they must never touch the ark.

Answer 3

people who repent are the Nation of God. Those who endure to the end are the ones that are saved as well as those that are repentant.
if the chosen people of God became much more evil than the pagans and the heathens, he clearly said that Pagan worshipp God in truth more than the israelites. Therefore the israelites are apostate. Therefore the rulers in the high places reject their own saviour and some of them even killed Jesus, some made oaths that the blood of jesus be upon their children, lo and behold the land of israel was destroyed and the temple with it in the year 70 a.d.
But no one alive today isguilty of the same blood oathes or the conspiracy of the relgious High Elite.
God raises prophets from the people to bring the judgments of God upon each generation. Those that repent are received like Ninevah in sackloth and ashes. and the jugements of God can be turned away in His longsuffering.
but if God will destroy entire cities and tribes and command that NONE be spared, So also he would command the wickedness of his own people be destroyed. God did not spare his own sin for the sake of the sacrifice of the Lamb, but he also did not spare the generation of Noah, or the cities of Sodom and Gomorah and tyre.
you should read the same kind of story with samuel the lamanite against the wickedness of the nephites in the Book of Mormon.

Answer 4

The Philistines were far from innocent.

Examples:

Plucking the flesh from Jewish people's bones as a method of torture (inspired by demons)

Goliath's mocking God and his followers

Philistine wars held against the Israelites..

His judgements are just, not a result of innocent bloodshed. Jesus took the final judgement for all mankind... Can't you just accept that instead of picking out individual verses to twist the true meaning of the Bible?

Answer 5

If you were to ask our Native Americans or Blacks to write a history book which would be used to teach our children about our Country's history, it would be entirely different from what we are use to. Our history books have a white bias to it.
So too the Bible. It was written by Hebrews with their slant on what happened.
Our God did not condone what happened to the Philistines. Judges 13:1 was written by the Hebrew people as a faith answer to what they were going through at the time.

Answer 6

God does not kill anyone, He will give Satan authority to devestate His children because of disobedience. But the mercy of God is from everlasting to everlasting. Meaning He won't allow more than we can bare. Once we realize this and who is in charg of our life, we turn back to God.

The Philistines were enemies of God, who told you they were innocent?

Answer 7

Innocent Philistines? You certainly aren't reading the same bible I am.

Either that or you are a terrible translator for scripture.

Answer 8

The Philistines weren't that innocent.

Answer 9

He punished Israel and in return he punished the Philistines for being cruel to his people.

Answer 10

Philistines were horrible cruel merciless people who deserved to die. They should have killed everyone of them and wouldn't have had to fight them all the time later.
Now they are palestine and we are still fighting them