Preaching And Reading The Old Testament Lessons
During the reign of Saul (ca.1020--1000 B.C.), Israel's principal enemies were the Philistines, those seagoing peoples from the island of Crete who had settled into five city--states along the coast of Palestine. While Saul and his son Jonathan were sometimes successful in battle against them (cf. 1 Samuel 14:13--46), the Philistines literally threatened Israel with extinction, and one of the reasons David, Saul's successor, was considered to be so great was because he subdued the Philistine threat in battle.
