Posted on 08/05/2019 9:16:02 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Between 1997 and 2016, researchers at an excavation near Ashkelon in Israel examined the remains of more than one hundred humans, remains that dated from the 12th to 6th centuries before Christ. The researchers hoped to find human DNA in order to answer an old question: Who were the Philistines? Where did they come from?
As it turns out, the Philistines were exactly who the Bible says they were, and they came from where the Bible says they did.
Amos 9 speaks of God bringing up the Philistines from Caphtor, just as he brought Israel out of Egypt. Deuteronomy 2 tells us that “the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed [the original Canaanite inhabitants] and settled in their place.”
This brings us to the obvious question: “Where was Caphtor?” We just don’t know for sure, but the Bible does provide an interesting clue. Jeremiah called the Philistines “the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.” The Hebrew word translated “coastland” can also mean “island.”
For this and other reasons, many archaeologists have concluded that biblical Caphtor was Crete. In fact, some modern Bible translations even render “Caphtor” as “Crete.” We can’t be completely certain that it is, but the Bible does tell us three additional things about the Philistines. First, they weren’t native to Iron Age Canaan. Second, they displaced the original inhabitants of the region. And, third, they came via the sea, that is, the Mediterranean.
Which brings me back to the excavation in Ashkelon. After analyzing DNA from the site, Michal Feldman, an archaeogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute, and Daniel Master, the head of the expedition, revealed the results. Master announced, “Our study has shown for the first time that the Philistines immigrated to this region in the 12th century (BC).”
And from where did they immigrate? According to Feldman, “This [DNA] ancestral component is derived from Europe, or to be more specific, from southern Europe, so the ancestors of the Philistines must have traveled across the Mediterranean and arrived in Ashkelon sometime between the end of the Bronze age and the beginning of the Iron age.”
Over time, the “ancestral component” became diluted as the Philistines mixed with the local Canaanite population.
All of this is pretty much in accordance with the Biblical narrative. The Philistines were ancient Israel’s principal antagonist during the period of the Judges, which coincides with the time frame Feldman and Master mention, as well as the early Monarchy. As the biblical narrative continues, they become less distinct from their Canaanite neighbors and basically drop out of the picture, except as an historical reference, as in Jeremiah.
Whenever the latest archaeological evidence confirms parts of the Biblical narrative, we are told that this does not prove the Bible is “true.” I suspect what critics are trying to say, for example in this case, is that confirming the biblical narrative’s account of the origin of the Philistines doesn’t necessarily mean the rest of the Bible is true.
Of course, it doesn’t. But the Bible is on quite a streak here, isn’t it? And, each finding further distinguishes the Biblical narrative from other religious or even ancient historical texts. The Biblical writers weren’t creating myths or recounting legends. They were relating history.
Like all history, the events it describes are interpreted within Israel’s larger story, but the events are clearly not created out of thin air to suit their agenda. These were events either witnessed or received from reliable sources.
Which is why we must say that Biblical faith is a historical faith. Many other faiths are “ways of life” or “paths to enlightenment” or something like that. The Bible is different. It tells the story of God’s dealing with His people as it unfolded in human history. Its details are grounded in real events, not in some mythological “once upon a time.”
And, along the way, we learn of other actors. You know, like the Philistines.
The Philistines were survivors of the Sea Peoples after they were defeated and driven out Egypt.
They also worshipped the “Fish God” -— DAGON.
Nice article. The Bible is History, past present and future.
The Philistines were eventually absorbed into the Jewish religion and became Jews.
God has His reasons..................
Interesting. I really enjoyed Crete, the people seemed friendlier and happier there than in the rest of Greece. Never been to Israel.
Surprise Surprise. The Bible is right again
Do we know who the Sea People were?
Interesting......
Well, we do now - Cretans among others.
Another point tells us they were from Crete (and its colonies), besides this DNA. The Egyptians made detailed artwork of the “Sea Peoples”, including their arms and armor, which were distinctive. One group of these warriors wore helmets with horns on them. There is only one other group of people in the Mediterranean in the late Bronze age that wore horned helmets: the Minoan Cretes, who of course put symbols of the bull and minotaurs on everything.
There is also a palace in lower Egypt that is painted with distinctly Minoan murals. Archaeologists are still arguing whether it means Minoan royals married into some Egyptian dynasty, or whether the Egyptians just hired Minoan artists to decorate it, but it definitely established that the Minoans were more than just casual visitors on that side of the Mediterranean coast.
lots of Dagon worshippers on Puget Sound this morning, dropping him a line.
In the olden days, 1973 to be exact, my professor of Ancient Near Eastern History had no problem using the Old Testament as a class textbook. It's not unlike what the Saxon Chronicle are to the study of Middle Ages Britain, i.e. HISTORY. Only the most dedicated, stubborn, and obtuse atheists would be stupid enough to claim otherwise.
The general hypothesis is that they were Greeks, from the Minoan and early Mycenaean cultures, with perhaps some colonists from as far as Italy, Sicily, Corsica and maybe even Spain mixed in. They also allied with local enemies of the Hittites and Egyptians, such as the Libyans, so sometimes those non-Greeks are included in the various lists of “Sea Peoples” as well, since they fought together.
Personally, I think these were professional Greek soldiers who took to wandering after the Trojan war, seeking fortune in foreign lands, as the “Sea Peoples” were sought after as the best mercenaries by people like the Egyptians, so they were not just some ragtag migrating people. Think of “the Odyssey”, where Ulysses wanders for 10 years adventuring around the sea after the war, I think that is what was going on (minus the mythical beasts and magic of course).
many archaeologists have concluded that biblical Caphtor was Crete. In fact, some modern Bible translations even render “Caphtor” as “Crete.”
CaphtorThe island Caphtor is named in the Scriptures. The usual identification is Crete, because the Keftiu bringing presents (vases) to Egyptian pharaohs are thought to be Cretans.
by Immanuel Velikovsky
I prefer Cyprus as the biblical Caphtor and the Egyptian Keftiu.
If Caphtor is not Cyprus, then the Old Testament completely omits reference to this large island close to the Syrian coast. The phonetics of the name also point to Cyprus. Separately I show that Tarshish was the name of Crete.
It seems that the Philistines arrived in Palestine from Caphtor following the catastrophe that brought there the Israelites after their wandering in the Desert.
TarshishReferences to the ships of Tarshish and to a place of that name, in the Old Testament, beginning with the time of Solomon (10th century), to the time of the prophets of the 8th and 7th centuries, make me think that by this designation the Cretan navigators and Crete itself were meant. The Minoan civilization survived until the great catastrophes of the 8th century and it would be strange if it and its maritive activities remained unmentioned in the Old Testament.
by Immanuel Velikovsky
The usual explanation puts Tarshish in Spain, though other identifications are offered, like Tarsus, in Asia Minor. One of the old names for Knossos sounds like Tarshish.
New Light On The Dark Age Of Greece, "Tarshish"...So far we have based our discussion of the identity of Tarshish on Biblical sources; but there also exists an allusion to that land in another source, a cuneiform text found about a hundred years ago at Assur on the Tigris. The text is part of the annals of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, who ruled over Assyria from -681 to -669. It reads:
by Jan Sammer"All the kingdoms from (the islands) amidst the sea -- from the country of Iadanan and Jaman as far as Tarshishi bowed to my feet and I received heavy tribute."The identities of the first two countries mentioned by Esarhaddon are known: Iadanan is Cyprus and Iaman is the Ionian coast of Asia Minor; the location of Tarshishi, however, became the subject of some debate, for this statement by Esarhaddon is the only time the name appears in any Assyrian text. It was noted that "Tarshishi" has the determinative mãt for "country" in front of it, as do Idanana, or Cyprus and Iaman, or Ionia. The only clue to its location was its being described as a kingdom "amidst the sea", apparently somewhat farther removed from Assyria than either Cyprus or Ionia.
When Esarhaddon's text was first published and transliterated the name was read as "Nu-shi-shi." At that time there were several conjectures as to the identification of this land. The city of Nysa in Caria was one suggestion; another was that the world refers to "nesos" for Peloponnesos. In 1914 D. D. Luckenbill ventured that "Knossos, for Crete, would fit better." Three years later B. Meissner made a fresh examination of the cuneiform tablet and found that the original transliteration of the name had been mistaken, and that "Tar-shi-shi" was the correct reading. The new reading took away Luckenbill's chief reason for his identification; yet he had the right solution, even if he reached it on wrong grounds. More recent scholarship identifies the land of Tarshishi mentioned by Esarhaddon with the city of Tarsus in Cilicia. Had Tarshishi been a city the name would have been preceded by the determinative URU; however, as mentioned above, it has mãt for "country". It is also difficult to see how a place in Cilicia would fit the description "from Iadanana and Iaman as far as Tarshishi." Clearly Tarsisi was farther west than either Cyprus or Ionia. These criteria are filled admirably by Crete.
bkmk
I thought the article stated that the Philistines were Cretans driven from their lands by ‘Sea Peoples’?
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