Philistines

The Philistines are the southern coastal people whose five cities — Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath — line the seaboard from the Shihor to Mount Baalah. From the patriarchs through the Maccabees they recur as Israel's nearest, hardest, and most durable adversary, and Yahweh's dealings with them run from quiet covenants at Beer-sheba to fire on the wall of Gaza.

Origin from Caphtor and Mizraim

Their genealogy runs through Mizraim. From the Casluhim "went forth the Philistines" alongside the Caphtorim (Gen 10:14). The prophets fix the same origin: Yahweh "brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir" (Amos 9:7), and Jeremiah names them as "the remnant of the isle of Caphtor" (Jer 47:4). Moses' itinerary preserves the moment of settlement: "the Caphtorim, who came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed [the Avvim], and dwelt in their stead" as far as Gaza (Deut 2:23).

Patriarchal Contact at Gerar and Beer-sheba

The earliest dealings are not war but treaty. Abraham and Abimelech "made a covenant at Beer-sheba. And Abimelech rose up, and Phicol the captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines" (Gen 21:32), and Abraham "sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days" (Gen 21:34). With Isaac the relationship sours over wells and herds: "the Philistines envied him," they "stopped" Abraham's wells, and Abimelech sends Isaac away with the words, "Go from us. For you are much mightier than we" (Gen 26:14-16). Isaac then "dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham" (Gen 26:18).

The Mosaic Era and the Settled Territory

At the Exodus the route along the coast is deliberately avoided: "when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God didn't lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Or else perhaps the people will repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt" (Ex 13:17). Joshua inventories what the Philistines still hold as land that "yet remains" (Jos 13:2): "from the Shihor, which is before Egypt, even to the border of Ekron northward, [which] is reckoned to the Canaanites; the five lords of the Philistines; the Gazites, and the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avvim" (Jos 13:3). Ekron's border runs to the sea (Jos 15:11).

The Judges: Shamgar and Samson

In the period of the judges Israel is repeatedly "sold" into Philistine hands (Jud 10:7; 1 Sam 12:9). Shamgar is the first deliverer named against them: "after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad: and he also saved Israel" (Jud 3:31). Samson's whole career is set under their rule. Before his birth the messenger says of him, "no razor will come upon his head; for the lad will be a Nazirite to God from the womb: and he will begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines" (Jud 13:5). The narrator adds: "the lad grew, and Yahweh blessed him. And the Spirit of Yahweh began to move him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol" (Jud 13:24-25). His Timnite marriage is itself a divine occasion against the Philistines (Jud 14:4); his three hundred foxes burn the harvest (Jud 15:4); the men of Judah hand him over and he breaks the new ropes when "the Philistines shouted as they met him: and the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily on him" (Jud 15:14). At Gaza he carries off the city gates (Jud 16:1-3); in the valley of Sorek Delilah pries his secret loose (Jud 16:4-17), and the Philistines repeatedly cry, "The Philistines are on you, Samson" (Jud 16:9, 12, 14, 20). The cycle ends with him pulling the temple down on himself: "Let my soul die with the Philistines... So the dead that he slew at his death were more than those who he slew in his life" (Jud 16:30).

The Capture and Return of the Ark

At Aphek "Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Eben-ezer: and the Philistines encamped in Aphek" (1 Sam 4:1). The rout that follows is total: "the Philistines fought, and Israel was struck... there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain" (1 Sam 4:10-11). The captors take the ark to Ashdod: "the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon" (1 Sam 5:2), and Yahweh's hand is heavy on the Ashdodites with tumors (1 Sam 5:6-7). The five lords convene over what to do: "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about to Gath" (1 Sam 5:8). Sent on to Ekron, "the Ekronites cried out... They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people" (1 Sam 5:10). After seven months in Philistine country (1 Sam 6:1) the ark is sent back with golden tumors as a trespass-offering — "for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one" (1 Sam 6:17) — while the five lords watch the cart from Ekron (1 Sam 6:16). Samuel then defeats them at Mizpah: "Yahweh thundered with a great thunder on that day on the Philistines, and discomfited them," Samuel sets up the Eben-ezer stone, "and the hand of Yahweh was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel" (1 Sam 7:10-13). The cities once taken from Israel are restored "from Ekron even to Gath" (1 Sam 7:14), and Israel is still pleading with Samuel, "Don't cease to cry to Yahweh our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines" (1 Sam 7:8).

Saul and Jonathan: Garrison, Iron, and Goliath

Under Saul the Philistine pressure is constant. A garrison stands at "the hill of God" (1 Sam 10:5); they assemble against him with "thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude... in Michmash, eastward of Beth-aven" (1 Sam 13:5). They hold a monopoly on iron: "there was no blacksmith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, Or else the Hebrews will make swords or spears... in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan" (1 Sam 13:19-22). Jonathan and his armorbearer climb up against the Philistine garrison and break the camp: "they fell before Jonathan; and his armorbearer slew them after him... about twenty men, within, as it were half a furrow's length in an acre of land. And there was a trembling in the camp" (1 Sam 14:13-15). Their champion at the valley of Elah is Goliath: "there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span" (1 Sam 17:4). David runs to meet him with a sling: "David put his hand in his bag, and took a stone from there, and slang it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone" (1 Sam 17:48-50). Israel pursues the routed army "until you come to Gai, and to the gates of Ekron" (1 Sam 17:52). For the king's daughter Saul demands "a hundred foreskins of the Philistines"; David doubles it: "David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men" (1 Sam 18:25-27).

David's Refuge at Gath

Fleeing Saul, "David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath" (1 Sam 21:10). Later he returns with six hundred men "to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath" (1 Sam 27:2) and raids the southern peoples while telling Achish the raids are against Judah, until "Achish believed David, saying, He has become a complete stench among his people Israel; therefore he will be my slave forever" (1 Sam 27:8-12). The Cherethite, Pelethite, and Gittite men who later follow him out of Jerusalem are six hundred Gittites "who came after him from Gath" (2 Sam 15:18).

The Death of Saul on Gilboa

The reign ends where it had been pressed all along: "the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. And the Philistines stuck [closely] on Saul and on his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul." Wounded by their archers, Saul falls on his own sword, and his armorbearer with him (1 Sam 31:1-6). David's lament refuses to give the news away: "Don't tell it in Gath, Don't proclaim the news in the streets of Ashkelon; Or else the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice" (2 Sam 1:20).

David's Wars and the Giants of Gath

Once anointed king, David turns the tide. Twice in the valley of Rephaim he inquires of "[the Speech of] Yahweh" — first frontally ("for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into your hand"), then by circuit ("when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry-trees... then Yahweh has gone out before you to strike the host of the Philistines") — and strikes them "from Geba until you come to Gezer" (2 Sam 5:17-25). Afterward he "struck the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took the bridle of the mother city out of the hand of the Philistines" (2 Sam 8:1) and "took Gath and its towns out of the hand of the Philistines" (1 Chr 18:1). His mighty men make their stands here: Eleazar's hand stuck to his sword as he struck the Philistines until Yahweh "wrought a great victory" (2 Sam 23:9-10), and Shammah held a plot of lentils against them (2 Sam 23:11-12). The giants of Gath fall one by one — Ishbibenob, Saph, the Goliath of Elhanan's record, and the six-fingered champion: "These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his slaves" (2 Sam 21:15-22; cf. 1 Chr 20:5).

The Divided Kingdom

Under the divided kingdom the Philistines move in and out of vassalage. They bring tribute to Jehoshaphat — "presents, and silver for tribute" (2 Chr 17:11). Under Ahaz they invade in the other direction: "The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the lowland, and of the South of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, and Aijalon, and Gederoth, and Soco with its towns, and Timnah with its towns, Gimzo also and its towns: and they dwelt there" (2 Chr 28:18). Hezekiah breaks them again: "He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city" (2 Ki 18:8). Uzziah had earlier "warred against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod" (2 Chr 26:6). Hazael of Syria takes Gath in his own day (2 Ki 12:17), and the Shunammite's seven-year sojourn is "in the land of the Philistines" (2 Ki 8:2). The cult of Ekron is named when Ahaziah of Israel sends to "Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron" for a verdict on his sickness (2 Ki 1:2).

The Prophetic Oracles

The eighth- and seventh-century prophets all turn against the seacoast. Amos opens against Gaza for slave-trading with Edom: "I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will devour its palaces. And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; and I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines will perish" (Amos 1:6-8). Isaiah warns Philistia not to rejoice over a broken rod: "Howl, O gate; cry, O city; you are melted away, O Philistia, all of you; for there comes a smoke out of the north" (Isa 14:29-31). Jeremiah's whole forty-seventh chapter is "concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza" — overflowing waters, "Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing, the remnant of the Anakim," and the sword of Yahweh charged against Ashkelon and the seashore (Jer 47:1-7); they are again named in the cup-of-wrath roll, "Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod" (Jer 25:20). Ezekiel adds: "Look, I will stretch out my hand on the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the seacoast" (Ezek 25:15-17). Zephaniah sees the four cities emptied at noon and the seacoast turned into pasture for the remnant of Judah: "the seacoast will be pastures, cisterns of shepherds and folds for flocks. And the portion will be for the remnant of the house of Judah... in the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down in the evening" (Zeph 2:4-7). Zechariah closes the line: "Ashkelon will see it, and fear; Gaza also, and will be very pained; and Ekron, for her expectation will be put to shame... And a bastard will dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines... and Ekron as a Jebusite" (Zech 9:5-7).

Ben Sira's Memory of David

Ben Sira's praise of the fathers remembers David's victories in the same key. "In his youth he slew the giant, And took away the reproach from the people; When he slung his hand with the sling, And broke the pride of Goliath" (Sir 47:4). David "subdued the strong places of the enemy, And destroyed all the princes of the Philistines" (Sir 46:18); he "subdued the enemy round about, And he destroyed the cities of the Philistines, And broke in pieces their power to this day" (Sir 47:7). "The inhabitants of Seir, and Philistia, And that foolish nation which dwells in Shechem" are still remembered as the abhorrent neighbors of the chronicler's own day (Sir 50:26).

The Maccabean Campaigns

The cities last named in the prophetic oracles return as campaign targets under Judas. After Beth-horon "there fell of them eight hundred men, and the rest fled into the land of the Philistines" (1 Macc 3:24). Later Judas "turned to Azotus into the land of the strangers, and he threw down their altars, and he burned the statues of their gods with fire: and he took the spoils of the cities, and returned into the land of Judah" (1 Macc 5:68; cf. 5:65-67) — Azotus being the Hellenized name of Ashdod, one of the five Philistine cities first listed at Joshua's inventory of the seacoast.