PHILISTINES
Descendants of Philistim through Casluhim, son of Mizraim (Gen. 10:13, 14). They came from Caphtor, which is probably Crete (Jer. 43:4), the Egyptian Kefti or Keftiu, although there are scholars who place their origin in Cappadocia.
Already when Abraham went to live in Gerar they were in the southwest of Palestine (Gen. 20); Both Abraham and Isaac had some problems with them because of some wells they had dug (Gen. 21:25-34; 26:1-18).
They were a warlike nation, which is why God did not take the Israelites into their land when he brought them out of Egypt (Ex. 13:17).
In the time of Joshua, the territory of Philistia was divided into five city-states with their territories, with a king or lord in each (Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, Ekron: Joshua 13:2, 3).
In the time of the judges they oppress Israel, Shamgar intervening against them (Judg. 3:31). There were then intermittent wars between the Philistines and the Israelites.
Their knowledge of iron metallurgy, unknown to the Israelites, gave them enormous military superiority over the latter (1 Sam. 13:20).
In the early days of the Israelite monarchy there was a strong clash with them, in which Saul lost his life (1 Sam. 31). David subdued them (2 Sam. 5:25); under Solomon they were reduced to the status of tributaries (1 Kings 4:21).
As the kingdom was divided under Rehoboam, the Philistines managed to regain much of their former independence.
Uzziah (2 Chr. 26:6, 7) and Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:8) broke them.
At the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 B.C. The Philistines dedicated themselves to harassing King Ahaz, also creating strong tension between them and the Assyrians in their competition for control of Judah (inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser and Sargon).
The final end of the Philistines took place under one of the kings of the 26th Egyptian dynasty (Jer. 47:1-5), although it cannot be ruled out that Assyrians or Babylonians played a part in their extinction.
The chronological problems that affect the reconstruction of the history of Egypt (see EGYPT) are reflected in the treatment given to the history of the Philistines. According to the commonly disseminated chronological framework, the Philistines are identified with the so-called “Sea People”, who landed on the coasts of Canaan in the year 1,200 BC, and were subsequently rejected by the Egyptians, led by Ramses III.
However, the close examination of the so-called new pottery does not allow the identification of the Sea Peoples with the Philistines. On the other hand, the destruction of Ashkelon by Sennacherib (705-681 BC) in a punitive expedition is archaeologically at the level immediately below that of the occupation of this locality by the Sea Peoples.
Thus, the emergence of the Sea Peoples did not take place in 1,200 BC. but, following the revised chronology of Egypt, around 700 B.C. These Sea Peoples were a migration of Hellenic peoples long after the establishment of the Philistines in Palestine.
The identification of the Philistines with the Sea People contradicts not only the Scriptures, but also the monumental evidence of the previous existence of worshipers of Dagon in Ashkelon. This identification of the Sea Peoples with the Philistines rests on a mere assumption that its originator, Brugsch, later abandoned, but which seems to have a strong tendency to perpetuate itself.
The Philistines were idolaters. They had various cult centers dedicated to various gods:
Gaza and Ashdod were centers of the cult of Dagon;
Ashkelon was a center of worship for Ashtoreth, and
Ekron was the seat of Baal-zebub (1 Sam. 5:2; 2 Kings 1:1-16).