Bible Studies

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

Most biblical historians agree that the first legitimate mention is found in Exo. 13:17 when God redirected the Israelites because the Philistines were invading the Sinai Peninsula at the same time. According Egyptian historical records, this was part of a larger invasion by a confederacy of nations known as the Sea People. So the Philistines were just one of several foreigners who were infiltrating Canaan at this time. According to the Bible, the Philistines eventually 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 proving the vessels were locally made. 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

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