So Manoah took the kid with the meal-offering, and offered it on the rock to Yahweh: and [the angel] did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on.
The Philistines (Caphtorim) evidently lived in Canaan in small numbers as early as the patriarchal period (Genesis 21:32; Genesis 26:1; cf. Deuteronomy 2:23). However, their major migration into Canaan took place in the first quarter of the twelfth century B.C. (1200-1175 B.C.). [Note: John Garstang, The Foundations of Bible History: Joshua, Judges, p. 287. See also Trude Dothan, "What We Know about the Philistines," Biblical Archaeology Review 8:4 (July-August 1982):20-44.] This would have made them more recent settlers in Canaan than the Israelites. Samson evidently began his judgeship about 1105 B.C. One writer argued that Samson was roughly contemporary with Jephthah and Gideon, which would place the beginning of his judgeship earlier. [Note: Washburn, p. 424.] He based his view on the fact that the writer recorded no rest period that preceded the beginning of Samson’s judgeship (Judges 13:1). He saw a continuation of the conflict with the Philistines mentioned in Judges 10:7. These arguments seem weak to me.