Philistines

Philistines, a highly civilized non-semitic people who settled in the coastal region of south Palestine in the 12th century bc, in what is now the West Bank. According to the Old Testament (Amos 9:7; Jeremiah 47:4; Deuteronomy 2:23), they came from Caphtor, which may be identified with Crete. Although a Pelasgian origin has been suggested, most modern scholars believe that the Philistines did indeed come from Crete.

It is not known whether Abimelech, king of Gerar (see Genesis 20-21, 26), was king of these people or merely of the country that later became Philistia. The Philistine skirmishes with the Danites mark their first appearance as aggressive enemies; the migration of the Danites (see Judges 18) about the 11th century bc is credited to Philistine pressure on their earlier home territory towards the south. The Philistines had five princes, who ruled over the five cities of Gaza, Ashdod, Askelon, Gath, and Ekron. They proved a formidable enemy to the Israelites, inflicting defeats on Samson and Saul, the first king of ancient Israel. King David, however, routed them repeatedly, and under Solomon, David's son and successor, their country seems to have been incorporated in the Jewish Empire. The internal troubles of Judah emboldened the Philistines once more to resistance, but Hezekiah, a later king of Judah, subdued them in the 8th century bc with the aid of the Egyptians. The Assyrians later took Ashdod, and in the 2nd and 1st centuries bc the Philistines became subjects of Syria; thereafter the name of the country became lost in that of Palestine.