The Philistine forces were defeated in battle after battle; the war was carried into their own territory, and their cities were compelled to surrender.

Philistia thus became a part of the Israelitish kingdom, and never again made any serious attempt to recover its independence.

At the division of the Israelitish kingdom it fell to Judah, and its vassal princes duly paid their tribute to the Jewish kings.

It would seem from the Assyrian inscriptions that they were played off one against the other, and that signs of disaffection in any one of them were speedily followed by his imprisonment in Jerusalem.

At all events, the Philistine cities remained in the possession of Judah down to the time of the overthrow of the monarchy, and the most devoted of David's body-guard were the Philistines of Gath.
It has been said above that Judah was a mixture of Hebrew, Kenite, and Edomite elements.