The old hatred.
Between the Israelites, the children of light, and the Philistines, the children of darkness, there existed for centuries almost uninterrupted hostility. Their position upon the coast, their powerful cities, their formidable warriors, their imposing yet debasing religion, concurred to make them mighty. And the immediate neighborhood of the descendants of Abraham brought the two peoples into frequent collision. The Philistines were sometimes used as the means of humiliating the unfaithful and disobedient children of Israel; and bitterly was the discipline felt when the Philistines rejoiced over them. For the Philistines on the west, as well as for the Ammonites and Edomites upon the east, the day of reckoning was at hand.
I. THE HATRED OF THE PHILISTINES TOWARDS ISRAEL WAS ANCIENT, PERENNIAL, AND UNDECAYING. This may be illustrated from the historical books of the Old Testament Scriptures.
II. THIS HATRED HAD ITS POLITICAL ORIGIN IN THE SETTLEMENT OF THE ISRAELITES IN CANAAN.
III. AND ITS RELIGIOUS ORIGIN IN THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE PURE WORSHIP OF JEHOVAH AND THE DEGRADING RELIGION PRACTICED IN PHILISTIA.
IV. THIS HATRED DISPLAYED ITSELF OFFENSIVELY IN THE TIME OF ISRAEL'S DEPRESSION AND HUMILIATION.
V. THIS HATRED BROUGHT DOWN UPON THE PHILISTINES THE INDIGNATION AND THE RETRIBUTIVE RECOMPENSE OF THE MOST HIGH.
VI. THIS HATRED THUS FURNISHED AN OCCASION FOR THE VINDICATION BY GOD OF HIS OWN RIGHTEOUS GOVERNMENT AND IRRESISTIBLE AUTHORITY.
APPLICATI ON.
1. There is such a thing as national morality. Apart from the character and conduct of individuals, a nation by its collective action proves itself to possess a certain moral unity.
2. There is such a thing as national responsibility. The people sin, and the people suffer; the people repent and call upon God, and the people are saved.
3. There is especial scope for the display of national virtues, and for the right use of national opportunity and probation, in the relations which subsist between different and sometimes rival communities.
4. National pride, power, and prosperity are of no avail in God's sight, if injustice and malevolence are exhibited by nations in their intercourse and transactions with each other. "The righteous Lord loveth righteousness."—T.