Infamous as ancient Israel's enemies whose Goliath was downed by David, Philistia was not, as popularly understood, a nation; rather it was a league of five city-states united by common cultural and military bonds. Centered around the pentapolis of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gath, they became one of Israel's most determined enemies when Israel began to assert here national independence and especially when she chose for herself a king.
The origin of the Philitine people(s) remain somewhat of an enigma. The Old Testament traces the origin of the Philistines to the Casluhites (Gen 10:14; of whom we know nothing else) and, especially, the Caphtorites, whose "remnants of the coastland of Caphtor," Jeremiah asserts, the Lord would destroy (Jer 47:4). This is, to some extent, consistent with what we know from extra-biblical sources. On the assumption that the Hebrew pelisti(m) (English: Philistine/s) is to be identified with the phulistime of Egyptian sources and the pilisti and palastu of the Assyrian inscriptions, scholars trace the origin of the biblical Philistines to what was called the Sea Peoples, a wave of many different peoples who swept across the Mediterranean basin in the 13th Cent BC when civilizations around the region collapsed for reasons that still puzzle historians. A number of these, including the Philistines, made for Egypt soon after the reign of Rameses II (the pharaoh from whom Israel was liberated and made their exodus for the Promised Land) and Rameses III had engaged them in many graphically recorded battles. Eventually some of them settled on the western coast of Canaan, took over the five Canaanite cities and make them their own at about the same time that Israel was entering the land from the east. Masters of chariotry ad iron technology, and adapting themselves to the local Canaanite culture (though retaining many other things Mycenean reflective of their original ties) they were quickly able to assert an influence in the region much earlier than Israel did. Their refusal to allow smiths to venture into the region forced the Israelites, who could not have survived long without adapting to iron tools, to have to go to the Philistines every time they needed their plows and other tools sharpened (1 Sam 13:20-21); this way they hoped to subjugate the Israelites as long as they could.
This reading, as noted above, tells only part of the story, for Philistine presence in Canaan was reported in the Bible long before the 13th Cent BC. Abraham and Isaac (ca.21st Cent BC), e.g., had friendly relationships with Abimelech "king of the Philistines in Gerar" (20:2ff.; 26:1ff.). These Philistines, however, were very different from those of the 13-12th Cent we meet in the books of Judges-Kings. Abimelech was called a 'king,' later Philistines had no king. Unlike the belligerence of the later ones, Abimelech and his fellow Philistines were friendly and reasonable, to the point of making the patriarchs seem foolish. They also have names which are more Semitic than later ones. It has been proposed by some scholars that a) the two has no genetic connections to one another, b) they may have common points of origin and eventual point of settlement, and c) "the term Philistine may have come from the Egyptian prst ('Peleset') and may have been applied inclusively (if somewhat anachronistically) to earlier groups, or else the term Philistine existed in Canaan early and the later Peleset and Philistines somehow became associated with it." (David M. Howard, Jr.)
Israel and the Philistines met soon after they arrived in Canaan. With the advantage of iron technology on their side, Israel posed no problem to the Philistines. But as Israel consolidated her hone in the highlands and began (or was perceived) to challenge the Philistines, wars soon break out between them. We read of the first in the time of Samson (Judg 13) and the antagonism between them under Samuel. Not only had this animosity continued into Saul's time (when, famously, David killed Goliath in one of the encounters) the Philistinian influence had reached as far as Beth-Shean at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley. If they were not checked their hold on the Valley would have cut off the northern tribes in Galilee from the rest of the Israelite nations; there was no way they could have survived. In a fierce battle near Mount Gilboa Saul and his three sons had died fighting them 1 Sam 31:6).
While Saul was still alive, he had in his intense jealously and maniac depressions driven David from his court and eventually David and his men became a band of outlaws who sold themselves into the services of Achish, king of Gath (1 Sam 21:10ff.). For their own safety the Philistines had kept David out of their battles with Saul (1 Sam 29). With Saul dead, and David proclaimed king of Judah, the Philistines thought that they had a vassal in their hand that they could control. They soon discovered that David was his own man. David managed to break the spine of the pentapolis alliance and her hegemony over Israel was finally a thing of the past. By the time of Solomon, in fact, what was left of Philistia was kowtowing to Israel instead (1 Ki 4:20ff.; it should be noted here that many secular archaeologists do not believe that Israel exercised such dominance over the Philistines until after the sack of Gath by the Syrians a century later).
The Philistines continued to drag out their days into the time of the Babylonian invasions, and many of them were taken into exile to Babylon where they founded many settlements with names like Ashdod and Ashkelon. By the time of Alexander they had practically ceased to be a recognizable people, having been so totally assimilated into the local populations. Memory of them in the land, however, continued to be acknowledged so that, with the final defeat of the Second Jewish Revolt (132-135), Emperor Hadrian decided to spite the Jews by renaming the land Palestine in honour their enemies.
Read the entry in:
Eaton's Illustrated Bible Dictionary
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Resources:
Aren Maeir, "New Light on the Biblical Philistines: Recent Study on the Frenemies of Ancient Israel," The Oriental Institute. 2014.
Video/YouTube 1.12.49 N (Open on Phone)
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