this is a good time to reacquaint ourselves with the Philistines. It seems they start off from the island of Crete, out of the Mediterranean. They were a seafaring people group that would expand its domain to the land of Israel but mainly on the coast land. Israel for the most regarded the sea with trepidation and suspicion.
Philista had one of the major trade routes that ran through their territory, which was carefully protected for economic reasons. It was very lucrative.
There were four gods in the spiritual life of the Philistines, which were:
- Baal (or Baal-Zebub), “Lord of the Flies”
- Asherah, a pole of wood, a fertility god
- Anat
- Dagon, a fish god, half fish and half man
The gods of Philistia would soon become a stumbling issue with Israel which slowly embraced them over the real God, Elohim.
There were 5 fortified cities that were established in the mainland (Israel). Each of these had a king with armies protecting them: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron. They had shrines to these gods in each of the five cities.
The Philistines had also innovated the use of iron, which was important for plows, spears, and swords. This was a development that these kings denied Israel the possession of. It would take a while for Israel would figure out how to do it for themselves.
They would also developed the art of brewing, and made beer, one of the very first to refine it.
The Philistines were a challenge.
They became more warlike and made repeatedly incursions into the territory of Israel. They were a severe problem for over 200 years. Samson, Samuel, Saul, and David each had difficulty over their activity in Israel.
For example, consider David, who killed Goliath (from the city of Gath) would undoubtedly had weapons of iron when he met David. At this time Israel still had inferior weapons. Their brass wasn’t as good as iron.
Israel regarded Philistia as the “uncircumcised,” and the religious leaders would claim that they should have no influence over Israel. Over time they disappeared from the biblical record.
The war coming from the expansion of Assyria would finally deplete the Philistines. After that we can find no real evidence of their existence.
However, Philistines, for what its worth still survives today as “Palestine.”
