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Who Were the Philistines

by James Shumaker  
1/06/2007 / Bible Studies

Since ancient times, the tradition has been that the Philistines were not native to Canaan. For one thing, they are absent from all early lists of inhabitants for that region.
Although the land of the Philistines is mentioned twice in Genesis (21:32,34), scholars believe that Moses was making a geographical reference that was true during his life, but not during the time of Abraham.

As early as 1285 BC, there were references to the Sea People, but at that time, they were simply raiders and mercenaries. By 1230 BC, they were establishing settlements along the Mediterranean coast, and quickly expanding their area of control. As it turns out, the Sea People were not made up of just one race, but were in fact a confederation of several nationalities, which bound together for reasons that have yet to be ascertained to this very day. One of the members of the Sea People was a group the Egyptians called the Peleset, who are widely identified as the Philistines.

Most biblical historians agree that the first legitimate mention of the Philistines is found in Exo. 13:17 when God redirected the Israelites because the Philistines were invading the Sinai Peninsula at the same time. In 1220 BC, when God redirected the Israelites, the Sea People along with the Philistines were in the process of removing the Egyptians from Canaan and were pursuing them into the Sinai Peninsula. Eventually they took control of the region, and according to the Bible, the Philistines settled down into five cities: Ashdod, Gaza, Askelon, Gath and Ekron.

But where were the Philistines before that? One clue can be found under the descendents of Mizraim in I Chron. 1:12. One of the tribes of Mizraim is the Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines and the Caphtorim.) It just so happens that Caphtor is the Egyptian word for the island of Crete. So for centuries, historians speculated that if the Philistines and the Caphtorim were related, maybe they came from Crete or from the islands off the coast of Greece. What was lacking was solid proof.

Then in 1984 a joint American-Israeli archaeological expedition began digging at the
Philistine city of Ekron. At one layer, they found a large collection of pottery shards with
various line drawings, including spirals, bands, zigzags, even fish and birds. These were not the typical patterns for Canaanite pottery. In fact, the designs were identical to those found on pottery recovered from the islands off the coast of Greece. But the Greeks of that time were renowned seafarers and traders, so it was possible it was a cache of trade goods.

Using a process called neutron activation, they could compare the chemistry of the local
soil to that of the pottery. As it turned out, the test results were an exact match to local soil samples proving the vessels were made in Israel. The archaeologists concluded that the Philistines made the pottery, and decorated them with the same designs that they had used back home in the Aegean Islands. Other excavations have since confirmed these finding, and it is now believed that the Philistines were most likely Greek emigrants.

Source: Biblical ArcheologicalReview; Jan/Feb 1990. Ekron of the Philistines: Where They
Came from, How They Settled Down and the Place They Worshipped in by Trude Dothan. ppg. 26-27

I am a network technician who writes for a hobby. I live in Newark, OH with my wife and three daughters. In the past, I have been employed as a freelance writer for a local newspaper. I have had a short story and an article on the American Revolution published.

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