Judges 13:1

Samson's birth

1 .the Philistines The Dtc. compiler treats the age of Samson on the principle of Judges 3:7 f., which has been illustrated in the foregoing narratives (Judges 3:7-15; Judges 4:1-3; Judges 6:1-7; Judges 10:6-8); but no hostile invasion is mentioned 13 16; while the Philistine domination lasted to the time of David, much longer than 40 years.

The Philistines are probably to be identified with the Purasati, who, with other non-Semitic tribes from southern Asia Minor and the Aegean islands, are first mentioned in the Egyptian inscriptions of Ramses III (circ.1198 1167 b.c.). At the beginning of the 12th century these -peoples of the sea" swept down upon Upper Syria and S.W. Canaan; they were twice defeated by the Pharaoh, but he did not succeed in driving them all out of the country. The Philistines settled on the coast between Carmel and Gaza, and in course of time formed a federal state governed by five lords(serânim, Judges 3:3; Judges 16:5 ff., Joshua 13:3; 1 Samuel 6:17 f.); a kindred tribe, the Cherçthites (translated Cretans1 [48] by LXX in Zephaniah 2:5; Ezekiel 25:16), found a home in the Negeb, 1 Samuel 30:14. At the period of the Samson story the Philistines not only held the maritime plain and the Shephçlah, but had made themselves masters of the inland districts belonging to the Israelites; in the period which follows they pushed their conquests further E. and N., and it was to resist these aggressions that the Hebrew monarchy was founded. The foreign origin of the Philistines is recognized by O.T. tradition. Thus in Judg. and Sam. they are called -the uncircumcised," and their original home is said to have been Caphtor (Amos 9:7 LXX Cappadocia, Jeremiah 47:4, cf. Deuteronomy 2:23), which may be the equivalent of Keftô, the ancient Egyptian name for the western quarter of the world, especially perhaps Cilicia; the civilization which they brought with them no doubt belonged to the early Aegean type 2 [49]. But though foreigners by race and civilization, they seem to have adopted the language and religion of the natives whom they conquered. The names of persons and places in Philistia are Canaanite (except perhaps Achish, and serânimabove); the gods whom they worshipped, Dagon (Judges 16:23 f., 1 Samuel 5), Ashtart (1 Samuel 31:10), Baal-zebub (2 Kings 1:2 f.), are Canaanite too; see also Herod, i. 105. Curiously enough, the district inhabited by these foreign invaders (Hebr. Pelesheth) gave its name through Greek influence to the whole country, Παλαιστίνη (Herod. ii. 104, vii. 89), Palestine. The mention of the Philistines in the stories of the patriarchs, Genesis 21:22 ff. E, 26 J, and in Exodus 13:17; Exodus 15:14, is an anachronism; for the Amarna tablets (circ.1400 b.c.) mention the country and cities afterwards held by the Philistines as in Canaanite possession.

[48] The identification is by no means certain, though recent opinion tends to recognize a connexion between the Philistines and Crete; see Evans, Scripta Minoa(1909), pp. 77 ff.

[49] In the LXX., Judg. and elsewhere, the Philistines are usually called οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι the foreigners; but in Judges 10:6-7; Judges 10:11; Judges 13:1; Judges 13:5; Judges 14:2 cod. B gives Φυλιστιείμ, cod. A οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι. The latter rendering is probably due, not to ancient tradition, but to the fact that at the time when the Gk. Version was made the population of the old Philistine country had become thoroughly Hellenized. In Isaiah 9:12 Ἑλληνες Greeksactually appears for the Philistinesof the Hebr. text.