As we explore Jewish history in the Land of Israel, we would be remiss not to mention Philistia, the area occupied by the notorious enemies of the Jews, the Philistines. In the days of the Judges and the first Jewish kings, the Philistines constantly attacked and terrorized their Jewish neighbors. In this article, we will discuss where the Philistines came from, where they lived, and how the Jews fought back.
(It should be noted that the Philistines have nothing in common with the modern-day “Palestinians,” a name given to the Arabs living in the Land of Israel. Following the fall of Jerusalem, the Romans named the region "Palestinia" after their enemies to humiliate the Jews. In an odd twist of irony, for centuries, the Jews living in the Land would be referred to as Palestinian. It was only in the latter half of the 20th century that the name became associated with the local Arab populace.)
Abraham, Isaac, and the Philistines
Abraham and Sarah traveled to the Land of Canaan at G‑d’s behest. Once there, they pitched their tents in several different places, moving from one to another.
After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham and Sarah moved to the city of Gerar, in the Negev desert.1 Abraham was afraid that the locals—who lacked fear of G‑d—would kill him to marry Sarah, so he asked Sarah to pretend to be his sister. The King of Gerar, Abimelech, had Sarah abducted and brought to him.
G‑d appeared to Abimelech in a dream and threatened to kill him for kidnapping Sarah. Terrified, Abimelech relented, released Sarah, sent gifts to Abraham, and invited him to settle anywhere in his land.2
Later, after hearing about the birth of Isaac and Abraham’s success, the king and his general Phichol approached Abraham and requested a peace treaty with Abraham and his descendants, to which Abraham agreed.3
Isaac also lived among the Philistines, and at times struggled with them over many issues, including the issues surrounding wells that Abraham had dug. For more about this, see our article on the Archeology of Beersheba.
Who Were the Philistines?
When the time came for the Jewish people to conquer the Land of Canaan, they did not fully conquer the southwestern portion of the land, which contained five Philistine cities.4
It has been suggested that these Philistines were not native to the land and perhaps not even the same people with whom Abraham struck his treaty.5 Indeed, G‑d promised Joshua that the Jewish people would conquer these lands after Joshua’s death.6
Who were the Philistines and where did they come from?
Archeologists determined that the Philistines were one of the Sea Peoples, originating from the Aegean Sea, likely from the island of Crete. The Philistines are referred to as “Peleset” in Ancient Egyptian texts. They raided nearby islands in the Mediterranean and eventually attacked Egypt, where they were repelled7.
After their failed attack on Egypt, the Philistines invaded the Land of Israel, capturing a large stretch of the Mediterranean coast. They settled in five cities: Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza. The area later became known as Philistia.
Four of the five Philistine cities (with the exception of Gaza) have been excavated by archeologists. Israeli archeologist Aren M. Maeir, who excavated Tel Tsafit, which was identified with the Philistine city of Gath, discovered evidence of a foreign invasion in the 12th century BCE.
Professor Maeir describes the beginning of the 12th century BCE as a collapse of the world order.8 The Hittite Empire disappeared from history, the Egyptian Empire was weakened, and many of the Mycenaean city-states in modern-day Greece were abandoned or destroyed.
Around this time, the Philistines settled on the Mediterranean coast. They brought with them their own culture, from which “we can very clearly see that these are foreigners,” says Professor Maeir.9 “These are not local people, but a culture which was highly influenced by all kinds of new things that have come into the region with the arrival of these new people.”
For example, the pottery found from that time period—locally made by the newly arrived Philistine potters—is different from the local pottery but very similar to the pottery produced in Greece in the same time period.
The Philistines also brought with them new technology, such as a type of plaster not previously used in the Levant but known from the Aegean and Mycenaean cultures. They brought with them a different method of cooking, too, building hearths with open fires rather than the closed mud ovens previously used in the region.
The Philistines remained in the area for centuries.
Attacks on the Jews
With time, the Philistines got comfortable in the Land of Israel, but the resources of the Mediterranean coast were not enough for them. They set their eyes on their new neighbors and began to raid Jewish towns and villages.
This was no coincidence.
The Jews of the time had turned to idol worship. Among other idols, they worshiped the gods of the Philistines.10 In response, “The anger of the L-rd was kindled against Israel, and He delivered them over into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the children of Ammon. And they crushed and broke the children of Israel that year.”11
Eighteen years later, the Jewish people repented and G‑d sent the judge Yiftah to save them from their enemies.
Some time later, however, “The children of Israel continued to do that which displeased the L-rd; and the L-rd delivered them into the hand of the Philistines [for] forty years12.”
The Philistines continued to raid and torment Jews as Jewish leaders fought back.
Samson and the Philistines
Perhaps the most famous Jewish hero in the battle against the Philistines was Samson.
Samson’s father Manoach came from the tribe of Dan, from a town called Tzorah—today, part of a national forest, located in the vicinity of Beit Shemesh.
Manoach and his wife were childless when an angel appeared to his wife and informed her that she would bear a son who would “begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”13 She was warned not to drink wine or anything unclean because her son would be a Nazarite from birth.
When their son was born, his parents named him Samson. When Samson grew up, “the spirit of the L-rd began to come to him at times in the camp of Dan; between Tzorah and Eshtaol.”14
Eshtaol today is a village about 1.5 miles (or 2.3 km) away from Tzorah.
The full story of Samson’s fight against the Philistines is beyond the scope of this article. Suffice it to say that he struck them a heavy blow in the 20 years that he judged over the Jewish people.
Samson’s story ended tragically in betrayal by his wife Delilah. When the Philistines captured Samson, they gouged his eyes out and brought him to Gaza in chains.15
Archeological finds can help us understand the last episode of Samson’s life.
The Philistines held a feast in honor of their god, whom they credited with capturing Samson. Then, “When their hearts were merry, they said, ‘Call for Samson, and he will make sport for us.’ And they called for Samson out of the prison-house, and he made sport before them, and they stood him between the pillars.”16
What were those pillars?
Professor Maeir describes a Philistine temple that he and his team discovered on the site of Gath, dated to the period of the Judges:17
We found the remains of a building, more or less rectangular in shape, with two pillar bases right in the middle, and the two pillar bases are positioned exactly 2 m 15 cm [about 85 inches] from center to center, which [equals] exactly 4 royal Egyptian cubits.
The temple, which was meticulously planned, is similar to another Philistine temple found at a different site, as well as to Mycenaean temples.
Professor Maeir suggests that the temple where the Philistines celebrated their victory was built in exactly the same way, and the pillars between which they placed Samson were precisely those two main supporting pillars of the building.
“This gives us a very nice example of how we can use the archeological evidence to understand the Biblical text better,”18 says Professor Maeir.
In the Philistine temple in Gaza, “Samson said to the lad that held him by his hand, ‘Allow me, and let me feel the pillars whereupon the house rests, that I may lean upon them.”19
Calling to G‑d and asking Him to return his extraordinary strength one more time, Samson “bent with (his) might, and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. And the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his lifetime.”20
Samson’s brothers came down to Gaza, picked up his body, and buried it at his father Manoach’s gravesite, between Tzorah and Eshtaol.
Today, that area is part of a beautiful lush green national forest and a popular hiking and picnic spot. The graves of Samson and his father Manoach are on top of a hill, with chairs, tables, and books of Psalms available for visitors who come to pray at the gravesite.
The Philistines after Samson’s death
Though greatly weakened, the Philistines continued to attack and terrorize the Jews. We will encounter them again when we explore the story of King David in a future article, G‑d willing.
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