or PHILISTINES, a people who are commonly said to have
descended from Casluhim, the son of Mizraim or Mizr, who peopled Egypt.
The Philistines, it is probable, continued with their progenitors in
Egypt until they were sufficiently numerous and powerful to stretch
themselves along the coast of Canaan; doubtless by driving out that
portion of the family of Ham. It is certain that, in the time of
Abraham, the Canaanites were in possession of the rest of the land, to
which they gave their name: but the extreme south of Philistia, or
Palestine, was even then possessed by the Philistines, whose king,
Abimelech, reigned at Gerar. After this, in the time of Joshua, we find
their country divided into five lordships or principalities; namely,
Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron; giving sometimes also, as it
appears, the title of king to their respective rulers; Achish being
termed king of Gath, I Sam. xxi, 10. The time of their coming to
Palestine is unknown; but they had been long in Canaan when Abraham came
thither, in the year of the world 2083. The name Philistine is not
Hebrew. The Septuagint generally translate it Ἀλλόφυλοι, _strangers_.
The Pelethites and Cherethites were also Philistines; and the Septuagint
sometimes translate _Cherethim_, Κρῆται, _Cretes_. They were not of the
cursed seed of Canaan. However, Joshua did not forbear to give their
land to the Hebrews, and to attack them by command from the Lord,
because they possessed a country promised to Israel. But these conquests
of Joshua must have been ill maintained, since, under the Judges, under
Saul, and at the beginning of the reign of King David, the Philistines
had their kings, and their lords, whom they called Sazenim; since their
state was divided into five little kingdoms, or satrapies; and since
they oppressed the Israelites during the government of the high priest
Eli, and of Samuel, and during the reign of Saul, for about a hundred
and twenty years, from A. M. 2848 to A. M. 2960. True it is, that
Shamgar, Samson, Samuel, and Saul, opposed them, and killed some of
their people, but did not reduce their power. They continued independent
till the time of David, who subdued them, 2 Sam. v, 17; viii, 1, 2, &c.
They continued in subjection to the kings of Judah down to the reign of
Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, about two hundred and forty-six years, when
they revolted from Jehoram, 2 Chron. xxi, 16. Jehoram made war against
them, and probably reduced them to his obedience again; because it is
observed in Scripture, that they revolted again from Uzziah, who kept
them to their duty during his whole reign, 2 Chron. xxvi, 6, 7. Uzziah
began to reign A. M. 3194. During the unfortunate reign of Ahaz, the
Philistines made great havoc in the territory of Judah; but his son and
successor Hezekiah subdued them again, 2 Chron. xxviii, 18; 2 Kings
xviii, 8. Lastly, they regained their full liberty under the later kings
of Judah; and we may see, by the menaces made against them by the
Prophets Isaiah, Amos, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, that they
brought a thousand hardships and calamities on the children of Israel,
for which God threatened to punish them with great misfortunes.
Esar-haddon, successor to Sennacherib, besieged Ashdod, or Azoth, and
took it by the arms of his general, Thasthan, or Tartan. Psammetichus,
king of Egypt, took the same city after a siege of twenty-nine years,
according to Herodotus. During the siege of Tyre, which held out
thirteen years, Nebuchadnezzar used part of his army to subdue the
Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and other nations bordering on
the Jews. There is great probability that the Philistines could not
withstand him, but were reduced to his obedience, as well as the other
people of Syria, Phenicia, and Palestine. Afterward they fell under the
dominion of the Persians; then under that of Alexander the Great, who
destroyed the city of Gaza, the only city of the Phenicians that dared
to oppose him. After the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, the
Asmoneans took by degrees several cities from the country of the
Philistines, which they subjected. Tryphon, regent of the kingdom of
Syria, gave to Jonathan, the Asmonean, the government of the whole coast
of the Mediterranean, from Tyre to Egypt; consequently, all the country
of the Philistines.
The land of the Philistines bordered on the west and south-west of
Judea, and lies on the south-east point of the Mediterranean Sea. The
country to the north of Gaza is very fertile; and, long after the
Christian era, it possessed a very numerous population, and strongly
fortified cities. No human probability, says Keith, could have existed,
in the time of the prophets, or at a much more recent date, of its
eventual desolation. But it has belied, for many ages, every promise
which the fertility of its soil, and the excellence both of its climate
and situation, gave for many preceding centuries of its permanency as a
rich and well cultivated region. And the voice of prophecy, which was
not silent respecting it, proclaimed the fate that awaited it, in terms
as contradictory, at the time, to every natural suggestion, as they are
descriptive of what Philistia now actually is. I will stretch out my
hand upon the Philistines, and destroy the remnant of the sea coasts,”
Ezek. xxv, 16. Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the
remnant of their valley,” Jer. xlvii, 5. Thus saith the Lord, For three
transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the
punishment thereof. I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, which
shall devour the palaces thereof. And I will cut off the inhabitant from
Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon; and I will turn
my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,
saith the Lord God,” Amos i, 6, 7, 8. For Ashkelon shall be a
desolation;” it shall be cut off with the remnant of the valley; and
Ekron shall be rooted up.--O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will
even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant; and the sea coast
shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks,”
Zeph. ii, 4, 5, 6. The king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall
not be inhabited,” Zech. ix, 5.
The land of the Philistines was to be destroyed. It partakes of the
general desolation common to it with Judea and other neighbouring
states. While ruins are to be found in all Syria, they are particularly
abundant along the sea coast, which formed, on the south, the realm of
the Philistines. But its aspect presents some existing peculiarities,
which travellers fail not to particularize, and which, in reference both
to the state of the country and the fate of its different cities, the
prophets failed not to discriminate as justly as if their description
had been drawn both with all the accuracy which ocular observation, and
all the certainty which authenticated history, could give. Volney,
(though, like one who in ancient times was instrumental to the
fulfilment of a special prediction, he meant not so, neither did his
heart think so,”) from the manner in which he generalizes his
observations, and marks the peculiar features of the different districts
of Syria, with greater acuteness and perspicuity than any other
traveller whatever, is the ever ready purveyor of evidence in all the
cases which came within the range of his topographical description of
the wide field of prophecy: while, at the same time, from his known,
open, and zealous hostility to the Christian cause, his testimony is
alike decisive and unquestionable: and the vindication of the truth of
the following predictions may safely be committed to this redoubted
champion of infidelity. In the plain between Ramla and Gaza,” the very
plain of the Philistines along the sea coast, we met with a number of
villages badly built, of dried mud, and which, like the inhabitants,
exhibit every mark of poverty and wretchedness. The houses, on a nearer
view, are only so many huts, (cottages,) sometimes detached, at others
ranged in the form of cells, around a court yard, enclosed by a mud
wall. In winter, they and their cattle may be said to live together; the
part of the dwelling allotted to themselves being only raised two feet
above that in which they lodge their beasts:”--“dwellings and cottages
for shepherds, and folds for flocks.”--“Except the environs of these
villages, all the rest of the country is a desert, and abandoned to the
Bedouin Arabs, who feed their flocks on it.”--Thus accomplishing the
words of prophecy, The remnant shall perish; the land of the Philistines
shall be destroyed, that there shall be no inhabitant; and the sea coast
shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.”
“The ruins of white marble, sometimes found at Gaza, prove that it was
formerly the abode of luxury and opulence. It has shared in the general
destruction; and, notwithstanding its proud title of the capital of
Palestine, it is now no more than a defenceless village,” (baldness has
come upon it,) peopled by, at most, only two thousand inhabitants.”--“It
is forsaken,” says the prophet, and bereaved of its king.” “The sea
coast, by which it was formerly washed, is every day removing farther
from the deserted ruins of Ashkelon.” Amidst the various successive
ruins, those of Edzoud,” Ashdod, so powerful under the Philistines, are
now remarkable for their scorpions.”--Here again we are reminded of the
words of inspiration: The inhabitants shall be cut off from Ashdod.”
Thus Volney becomes an unconscious commentator upon prophecy. But let us
hear a Christian traveller. Ashkelon,” says Richardson, “was one of the
proudest satrapies of the lords of the Philistines: now there is not an
inhabitant within its walls; and the prophecy of Zechariah is fulfilled:
‘The king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.’
When the prophecy was uttered, both cities were in an equally
flourishing condition; and nothing but the prescience of Heaven could
pronounce on which of the two, and in what manner, the vial of its wrath
should be poured out. Gaza is truly without a king. The lofty towers of
Ashkelon lie scattered on the ground, and the ruins within its walls do
not shelter a human being. How is the wrath of man made to praise his
Creator! Hath he not said, and shall he not do it? The oracle was
delivered by the mouth of the prophet more than five hundred years
before the Christian era, and we beheld its accomplishment eighteen
hundred years after that event.” There is yet another city which was
noted by the prophets, the very want of any information respecting
which, and the absence of its name from several modern maps of
Palestine, while the sites of other ruined cities are marked, are really
the best confirmation of the truth of the prophecy that could possibly
be given. Ekron shall be rooted up.” It is rooted up. It was one of the
chief cities of the Philistines; but, though Gaza still subsists, and
while Ashkelon and Ashdod retain their names in their ruins, the very
name of Ekron is missing.
descended from Casluhim, the son of Mizraim or Mizr, who peopled Egypt.
The Philistines, it is probable, continued with their progenitors in
Egypt until they were sufficiently numerous and powerful to stretch
themselves along the coast of Canaan; doubtless by driving out that
portion of the family of Ham. It is certain that, in the time of
Abraham, the Canaanites were in possession of the rest of the land, to
which they gave their name: but the extreme south of Philistia, or
Palestine, was even then possessed by the Philistines, whose king,
Abimelech, reigned at Gerar. After this, in the time of Joshua, we find
their country divided into five lordships or principalities; namely,
Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron; giving sometimes also, as it
appears, the title of king to their respective rulers; Achish being
termed king of Gath, I Sam. xxi, 10. The time of their coming to
Palestine is unknown; but they had been long in Canaan when Abraham came
thither, in the year of the world 2083. The name Philistine is not
Hebrew. The Septuagint generally translate it Ἀλλόφυλοι, _strangers_.
The Pelethites and Cherethites were also Philistines; and the Septuagint
sometimes translate _Cherethim_, Κρῆται, _Cretes_. They were not of the
cursed seed of Canaan. However, Joshua did not forbear to give their
land to the Hebrews, and to attack them by command from the Lord,
because they possessed a country promised to Israel. But these conquests
of Joshua must have been ill maintained, since, under the Judges, under
Saul, and at the beginning of the reign of King David, the Philistines
had their kings, and their lords, whom they called Sazenim; since their
state was divided into five little kingdoms, or satrapies; and since
they oppressed the Israelites during the government of the high priest
Eli, and of Samuel, and during the reign of Saul, for about a hundred
and twenty years, from A. M. 2848 to A. M. 2960. True it is, that
Shamgar, Samson, Samuel, and Saul, opposed them, and killed some of
their people, but did not reduce their power. They continued independent
till the time of David, who subdued them, 2 Sam. v, 17; viii, 1, 2, &c.
They continued in subjection to the kings of Judah down to the reign of
Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, about two hundred and forty-six years, when
they revolted from Jehoram, 2 Chron. xxi, 16. Jehoram made war against
them, and probably reduced them to his obedience again; because it is
observed in Scripture, that they revolted again from Uzziah, who kept
them to their duty during his whole reign, 2 Chron. xxvi, 6, 7. Uzziah
began to reign A. M. 3194. During the unfortunate reign of Ahaz, the
Philistines made great havoc in the territory of Judah; but his son and
successor Hezekiah subdued them again, 2 Chron. xxviii, 18; 2 Kings
xviii, 8. Lastly, they regained their full liberty under the later kings
of Judah; and we may see, by the menaces made against them by the
Prophets Isaiah, Amos, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, that they
brought a thousand hardships and calamities on the children of Israel,
for which God threatened to punish them with great misfortunes.
Esar-haddon, successor to Sennacherib, besieged Ashdod, or Azoth, and
took it by the arms of his general, Thasthan, or Tartan. Psammetichus,
king of Egypt, took the same city after a siege of twenty-nine years,
according to Herodotus. During the siege of Tyre, which held out
thirteen years, Nebuchadnezzar used part of his army to subdue the
Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and other nations bordering on
the Jews. There is great probability that the Philistines could not
withstand him, but were reduced to his obedience, as well as the other
people of Syria, Phenicia, and Palestine. Afterward they fell under the
dominion of the Persians; then under that of Alexander the Great, who
destroyed the city of Gaza, the only city of the Phenicians that dared
to oppose him. After the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, the
Asmoneans took by degrees several cities from the country of the
Philistines, which they subjected. Tryphon, regent of the kingdom of
Syria, gave to Jonathan, the Asmonean, the government of the whole coast
of the Mediterranean, from Tyre to Egypt; consequently, all the country
of the Philistines.
The land of the Philistines bordered on the west and south-west of
Judea, and lies on the south-east point of the Mediterranean Sea. The
country to the north of Gaza is very fertile; and, long after the
Christian era, it possessed a very numerous population, and strongly
fortified cities. No human probability, says Keith, could have existed,
in the time of the prophets, or at a much more recent date, of its
eventual desolation. But it has belied, for many ages, every promise
which the fertility of its soil, and the excellence both of its climate
and situation, gave for many preceding centuries of its permanency as a
rich and well cultivated region. And the voice of prophecy, which was
not silent respecting it, proclaimed the fate that awaited it, in terms
as contradictory, at the time, to every natural suggestion, as they are
descriptive of what Philistia now actually is. I will stretch out my
hand upon the Philistines, and destroy the remnant of the sea coasts,”
Ezek. xxv, 16. Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the
remnant of their valley,” Jer. xlvii, 5. Thus saith the Lord, For three
transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the
punishment thereof. I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, which
shall devour the palaces thereof. And I will cut off the inhabitant from
Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon; and I will turn
my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,
saith the Lord God,” Amos i, 6, 7, 8. For Ashkelon shall be a
desolation;” it shall be cut off with the remnant of the valley; and
Ekron shall be rooted up.--O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will
even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant; and the sea coast
shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks,”
Zeph. ii, 4, 5, 6. The king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall
not be inhabited,” Zech. ix, 5.
The land of the Philistines was to be destroyed. It partakes of the
general desolation common to it with Judea and other neighbouring
states. While ruins are to be found in all Syria, they are particularly
abundant along the sea coast, which formed, on the south, the realm of
the Philistines. But its aspect presents some existing peculiarities,
which travellers fail not to particularize, and which, in reference both
to the state of the country and the fate of its different cities, the
prophets failed not to discriminate as justly as if their description
had been drawn both with all the accuracy which ocular observation, and
all the certainty which authenticated history, could give. Volney,
(though, like one who in ancient times was instrumental to the
fulfilment of a special prediction, he meant not so, neither did his
heart think so,”) from the manner in which he generalizes his
observations, and marks the peculiar features of the different districts
of Syria, with greater acuteness and perspicuity than any other
traveller whatever, is the ever ready purveyor of evidence in all the
cases which came within the range of his topographical description of
the wide field of prophecy: while, at the same time, from his known,
open, and zealous hostility to the Christian cause, his testimony is
alike decisive and unquestionable: and the vindication of the truth of
the following predictions may safely be committed to this redoubted
champion of infidelity. In the plain between Ramla and Gaza,” the very
plain of the Philistines along the sea coast, we met with a number of
villages badly built, of dried mud, and which, like the inhabitants,
exhibit every mark of poverty and wretchedness. The houses, on a nearer
view, are only so many huts, (cottages,) sometimes detached, at others
ranged in the form of cells, around a court yard, enclosed by a mud
wall. In winter, they and their cattle may be said to live together; the
part of the dwelling allotted to themselves being only raised two feet
above that in which they lodge their beasts:”--“dwellings and cottages
for shepherds, and folds for flocks.”--“Except the environs of these
villages, all the rest of the country is a desert, and abandoned to the
Bedouin Arabs, who feed their flocks on it.”--Thus accomplishing the
words of prophecy, The remnant shall perish; the land of the Philistines
shall be destroyed, that there shall be no inhabitant; and the sea coast
shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.”
“The ruins of white marble, sometimes found at Gaza, prove that it was
formerly the abode of luxury and opulence. It has shared in the general
destruction; and, notwithstanding its proud title of the capital of
Palestine, it is now no more than a defenceless village,” (baldness has
come upon it,) peopled by, at most, only two thousand inhabitants.”--“It
is forsaken,” says the prophet, and bereaved of its king.” “The sea
coast, by which it was formerly washed, is every day removing farther
from the deserted ruins of Ashkelon.” Amidst the various successive
ruins, those of Edzoud,” Ashdod, so powerful under the Philistines, are
now remarkable for their scorpions.”--Here again we are reminded of the
words of inspiration: The inhabitants shall be cut off from Ashdod.”
Thus Volney becomes an unconscious commentator upon prophecy. But let us
hear a Christian traveller. Ashkelon,” says Richardson, “was one of the
proudest satrapies of the lords of the Philistines: now there is not an
inhabitant within its walls; and the prophecy of Zechariah is fulfilled:
‘The king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.’
When the prophecy was uttered, both cities were in an equally
flourishing condition; and nothing but the prescience of Heaven could
pronounce on which of the two, and in what manner, the vial of its wrath
should be poured out. Gaza is truly without a king. The lofty towers of
Ashkelon lie scattered on the ground, and the ruins within its walls do
not shelter a human being. How is the wrath of man made to praise his
Creator! Hath he not said, and shall he not do it? The oracle was
delivered by the mouth of the prophet more than five hundred years
before the Christian era, and we beheld its accomplishment eighteen
hundred years after that event.” There is yet another city which was
noted by the prophets, the very want of any information respecting
which, and the absence of its name from several modern maps of
Palestine, while the sites of other ruined cities are marked, are really
the best confirmation of the truth of the prophecy that could possibly
be given. Ekron shall be rooted up.” It is rooted up. It was one of the
chief cities of the Philistines; but, though Gaza still subsists, and
while Ashkelon and Ashdod retain their names in their ruins, the very
name of Ekron is missing.