Who Were The Philistines?

The Table of Nations, in Genesis 10, states in Hebrew with regard to the descendants of Mitzrayim. Literally, it says that those whom Mitzraim begat included “the Pathrusim, Casluhim (out of whom came the Philistines), and the Caphtorim.” (Bereshit 10:14).  The name “Philistine” comes from the Hebrew word Philistia, and the Greek rendering, palaistinei, gives us the modern name “Palestine”. However, the Arabic language lacks many sounds that Hebrew has, so they make it an F. The Arabic name is still based on the Hebrew word and uses the Arabic equivilant of the Hebrew root letters. Ironically, in the Quran, it calls the the holy land “Israil”.

Secular Arab Nationalism misused and abused terms from world geography to attempt to legitimatize their political cause. When the Romans colonized the holy land, one of the things they did was change the name from “Israel” to “Palestina” as a way to [attempt to] erase the Jews from history. But truth be told, we will not be erased! Hashem will not forget about His people.

The Latin name “Palestina” is what the Roman government decided to name Israel (then “Yudaea”) as a way to erase the Jewish identity from the holy land. The Western vocabulary was actively calling the land “Palestine” long before Catholics and Muslims had come and taken over the holy land. Talmud Yerushalmi is translated in English as “Palestinian Talmud” even though the term “Yerushalmi” is the adjective form of “Jerusalem”. The British called the colony “Palestine”. The Arabs went along with it.

Their culture resembles elements of the Greek cultures and other Middle Eastern cultures at the time. They were idolaters. They were worse than the average ones. They worshiped various deities directly from other Goyish cultures (implying the same name). None of their own. They took many idols from Ancient Mesopotamian cultures and used them as their own. According to the Book of Samuel, the Philistines were a superstitious people and even acknowledged the power of Israel’s Ark of The Covenant even going as far as taking it and placing it in an Idolatrous house of worship (1 Samuel 5:1-12). They are mentioned in the time of the Exodus after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea:“When Pharaoh let the people go, G-d did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For G-d said, ‘If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Mitzraim”. (Exodus 13:17). The fact that HaShem wanted us to avoid dealing with the Philistines shows just how much of a threat they were to us. 

Jewish tradition paints the Philistines vile people and one of main enemies of the Israelites (in the time period prior to the rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire between the 10th century BCE and late 7th century BCE) with a state of almost perpetual war between the two nations – The Yisraelim and Pelushtim. Biblical scholars often trace the word to the Semitic root p-l-š (Hebrew: פלש‎) as “invader”. This  may refer to the fact that some may have sailed their from Greek Islands. Historians describe the Philistines as mean, aggressive, hateful warmongers identical to the description of Nazi Germans during World War 2 (the Nazis may were probably Amalaek). For hundreds of years, the Philistines harassed and attempted to oppress the Israelites, often invading the Land of Israel.

The story of Samson revolves around an Israelite who’s betrayed by his Philistine female partner. He told her the secret to his power. She took advantage of it (as referenced in the famous Leonard Cohen song). The entire story shows how the enemy can tempt us but also implies how they really are dangerous. So of course naming your nation after them really raises suspicion within the eyes of many Jewish intellectuals. This also story [indirectly] shows the dangers of inter-faith dating and inter-faith marriage…Long story short, don’t get cucked by the evil nations of the world through their women!

According to Joshua 13:3 and 1 Samuel 6:17, the land of the Philistines was a pentapolis (5-City State Government) in southwestern Levant comprising the five city-states of Gaza, Ashkelon,Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath, from the Wadi Gaza in the south to the Yarqon River in the north, but with no fixed border to the east. This map may be a good reference to what this region looked like -830 BCE.

 Centuries before this map’s time period, the Philistine cities were controlled by Ancient Egypt. Even the name “Gaza” is from the first known from military records of Pharaoh Thutmose III of Egypt in the 15th century BCE. According to the history of the Bronze Age, Settlements in Gaza dates back to Tell Es-Sakan, an Ancient Egyptian fortress built in Canaanite territory to the south of present-day Gaza. The site went into decline throughout the Early Bronze Age as its trade with Egypt sharply decreased. Anyone who says that “Gaza is Egypt” is making an accurate claim that’s more accurate than the idea that it belongs to Arabs living in Israel. It’s interesting how in modern history, The State of Egypt would later control it as well. Looks like history repeats itself…

The Jews were constantly at war with the Philistines. The Philistine cities eventually lost their independence to the Assyrian Empire, and revolts, in the following years, were all crushed. The Assyrians then mixed the nations of the world around – removing most of them from their homelands besides for The Kingdoms of Yehudah and Mitzrayim. Both of these kingdoms were subsequently absorbed into the Babylonian and Persian empires, and disappeared as a distinct ethnic group by the late 5th century BCE.

Even if you acknolwedge the modern people of the Gaza Strip as the descendants of the ancient Philistines, in no way, would this include the city of Jerusalem or Jaffa. Your political agenda shouldn’t undermine the existence of a Jewish nation which has existed in this region. The Pro-Arab Agenda completely undermines the fact that there was a Judaic Kingdom in what is now the State of Israel. So if their nation is valid, so is our’s. Except they are no longer around…The Assyrians took care of them for us. They wiped them out when they [the Assyrians] took over the Levant. I guess that means that there is no nation that can acculturate be identified with the Phillistines.

As mentioned earlier, “Philistine” means “invader” since they invaded that land. In reality, that would make them the real occupiers. When I here people use the word the P-Word in their political speeches, what I’m hearing is people making a reference to a group of people who wanted to get rid of the Jews. That’s exactly what I hear.  They are sinners and will suffer for their lies. The nations of the world will lie about their history in order to destroy us. May they be obliterated in our lifetime.