Shmuel Alef 7:14

14 And the towns which the Pelishtim had captured from Yisroel were restored to Yisroel, from Ekron even unto Gat; and the territory thereof did Yisroel deliver out of the yad Pelishtim. And there was shalom between Yisroel and HaEmori (the Amorites).

Shmuel Alef 7:14 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 7:14

And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel
were restored to Israel
We nowhere read that the Israelites went out to war with them, and took these cities from them by besieging and assaulting them; but they made a demand of them after the above victory obtained, by which the Philistines were so intimidated, that they quietly surrendered them to them:

from Ekron even unto Gath, and the coasts thereof, did Israel deliver
out of the hands of the Philistines;
not by dint of sword, but by demand, to which they submitted; and though Ekron, if not Gath, fell to the tribe of Judah by lot, yet were never in their possession; and so are to be understood exclusively here, that not they, but the cities and towns that lay between them and the coasts thereof, which the Philistines had seized upon, these they were obliged to deliver up again to Israel; and if Ekron and Gath were delivered, they were not long held by them, for we soon read of them as in the hands of others:

and there was peace between Israel and the Amorites;
who were a principal nation of the Canaanites, and are put for the whole of them that remained; and so Josephus ^F16 calls them the remnant of the Canaanites; these, finding the Philistines were subdued, were quiet and peaceable, and gave Israel no more trouble.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 6. c. 2. sect. 2.)

Shmuel Alef 7:14 In-Context

12 Then Shmuel took one even (stone), and set it up between Mitzpah and Shen, and called the shem of it Even-Ezer, saying, Hitherto hath Hashem helped us.

13 So the Pelishtim were subdued, and they came no more into the territory of Yisroel; and the yad Hashem was against the Pelishtim all the days of Shmuel.

14 And the towns which the Pelishtim had captured from Yisroel were restored to Yisroel, from Ekron even unto Gat; and the territory thereof did Yisroel deliver out of the yad Pelishtim. And there was shalom between Yisroel and HaEmori (the Amorites).

15 And Shmuel judged Yisroel all the days of his life.

16 And he went from shanah b’shanah in circuit to Beit-El, and Gilgal, and Mitzpah, and judged Yisroel in all those places.