Philistines: (Genesis 10:14) R.V.; but in A.V., "Philistim", a tribe allied to the
Phoenicians. They were a branch of the primitive race which spread
over the whole district of the Lebanon and the valley of the Jordan,
and Crete and other Mediterranean islands. Some suppose them to have
been a branch of the Rephaim
(2 Samuel 21:16-22) In the time of Abraham
they inhabited the south-west of Judea, Abimelech of Gerar being
their king
(Genesis 21:32,34; 26:1) They are, however, not noticed among the
Canaanitish tribes mentioned in the Pentateuch. They are spoken of by
Amos
(Amos 9:7) and Jeremiah
(Jeremiah 47:4) as from Caphtor, i.e., probably
Crete, or, as some think, the Delta of Egypt. In the whole record
from Exodus to Samuel they are represented as inhabiting the tract of
country which lay between Judea and Egypt
(Exodus 13:17; 15:14,15)
(Joshua 13:3; 1 Samuel 4:1)ff This powerful tribe made frequent incursions
against the Hebrews. There was almost perpetual war between them. They
sometimes held the tribes, especially the southern tribes, in
degrading servitude
(Judges 15:11; 1 Samuel 13:19-22) at other times they
were defeated with great slaughter
(1 Samuel 14:1-47; 17:1)ff These
hostilities did not cease till the time of Hezekiah
(2 Kings 18:8) when
they were entirely subdued. They still, however, occupied their
territory, and always showed their old hatred to Israel
(Ezekiel 25:15-17)
They were finally conquered by the Romans. The Philistines are called
Pulsata or Pulista on the Egyptian monuments; the land of the
Philistines (Philistia) being termed Palastu and Pilista in the
Assyrian inscriptions. They occupied the five cities of Gaza,
Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath, in the south-western corner of
Canaan, which belonged to Egypt up to the closing days of the
Nineteenth Dynasty. The occupation took place during the reign of
Rameses III. of the Twentieth Dynasty. The Philistines had formed part
of the great naval confederacy which attacked Egypt, but were
eventually repulsed by that Pharaoh, who, however, could not dislodge
them from their settlements in Palestine. Indeed the country was
properly Gerar, as in
(Genesis 20:1) ff They are called Allophyli,
"foreigners," in the Septuagint, and in the Books of Samuel they are
spoken of as uncircumcised. It would therefore appear that they were
not of the Semitic race, though after their establishment in Canaan
they adopted the Semitic language of the country. We learn from the
Old Testament that they came from Caphtor, usually supposed to be
Crete. From Philistia the name of the land of the Philistines came
to be extended to the whole of "Palestine." Many scholars identify
the Philistines with the Pelethites of
(2 Samuel 8:18)
