I want to try and explain why it’s not entirely accurate to use the word “oppression” when referring to the Philistines during Samson’s time.
See, here’s the thing.
While it’s true they did hold supreme control over the region they were inhabiting, they didn’t purposely lord their power over the Israelites or try to exterminate them.
The truth is the Israelites had a love/hate relationship with the Philistines.
What do I mean exactly?
Let me try to explain by sharing an example from modern history.
During World War II, after the United Stated dropped two atomic bombs on the nation of Japan, the Japanese surrendered and then afterwards the American military led by MacArthur occupied Japan from 1945 to 1952.
Before the American soldiers arrived, the local Japanese population was terrified.
They feared the American soldiers would rape, pillage and plunder.
But it turns out, no such thing happened.
Quite the opposite actually.
The Americans came to help Japan rebuild their nation and this even included rewriting their constitution.
Of course, the Americans conveniently made it illegal for Japan to rebuild their military.
Article 9 of their constitution bans Japan from using war as a means to settle international disputes.
Instead, the United States promised to defend Japan if a military conflict ever arose
So things seemed all hunky dory.
Japan was able to focus on rebuilding their economy while America shouldered their military burden.
But here’s the thing, during the occupation, while many of the local people in Japan were fine to have the US military occupying their country, you had best believe there were a lot of folks who resented them deeply.
Because every people group possesses a deep pride in their souls…
And let’s face it after losing the war to the United States, it was downright humiliating to have to bow down to a foreign power.
But it was a mixed bag of feelings.
Because their resentment was mixed with a good dose of admiration as well.
While the Japanese weren’t happy to have a foreign power occupying their land (who would be?), they knew they had to say goodbye to the ancient emperor worship that had led to the military aggression they had adopted.
Of course, they didn’t want to abandon their traditional Japanese culture, but they also realized there were many elements of Western culture and technology that would be to their advantage to adopt.
So to repeat my point, during the occupation, the US forces were both deeply hated and admired by the Japanese.
Because again, at that time, the United States was so overwhelmingly powerful and wealthy…
And honestly, to a certain degree, this love/hate relationship continues to this day.
Okay, so you’re probably wondering, where in the heck am I going with this analogy in terms of our Bible study here?
It’s simple.
In this example, just replace Japan with Israel, and the USA with the Philistines and you’ll have a pretty clear idea of how the two sides interacted with each other
So how exactly does this analogy fit?
When the Americans occupied Japan, they didn’t force their culture or language onto the Japanese.
But the Americans with their cutting edge technology, unstoppable military power and prosperity and wealth attracted many Japanese to them.
They wanted to learn English, dress in Western clothing and some even became interested in American religion, albeit Gentile-style evangelical Christianity.
Again, this was the same way the ancient Hebrews viewed the Philistines.
They admired the Philistines’ advanced society while at the same time not wanting to be infected by their gentile ways and culture.
Usually it was the younger generation of Israelites who were more open to gentile influence while the older generation was wary.
Because the elderly knew from experience that adopting gentile ways would lead to idolatry which would lead to God’s judgement coming upon them.
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