Philistines

2 definitions found

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Philistines
     (Gen. 10:14, R.V.; but in A.V., "Philistim"), a tribe allied to
     the Phoenicians. They were a branch of the primitive race which
     spread over the whole district of the Lebanon and the valley of
     the Jordan, and Crete and other Mediterranean islands. Some
     suppose them to have been a branch of the Rephaim (2 Sam.


     21:16-22). In the time of Abraham they inhabited the south-west
     of Judea, Abimelech of Gerar being their king (Gen. 21:32, 34;
     26:1). They are, however, not noticed among the Canaanitish
     tribes mentioned in the Pentateuch. They are spoken of by Amos
     (9:7) and Jeremiah (47:4) as from Caphtor, i.e., probably Crete,
     or, as some think, the Delta of Egypt. In the whole record from
     Exodus to Samuel they are represented as inhabiting the tract of
     country which lay between Judea and Egypt (Ex. 13:17; 15:14, 15;
     Josh. 13:3; 1 Sam. 4).
     
       This powerful tribe made frequent incursions against the
     Hebrews. There was almost perpetual war between them. They
     sometimes held the tribes, especially the southern tribes, in
     degrading servitude (Judg. 15:11; 1 Sam. 13:19-22); at other
     times they were defeated with great slaughter (1 Sam. 14:1-47;
     17). These hostilities did not cease till the time of Hezekiah
     (2 Kings 18:8), when they were entirely subdued. They still,
     however, occupied their territory, and always showed their old
     hatred to Israel (Ezek. 25:15-17). They were finally conquered
     by the Romans.
     
       The Philistines are called Pulsata or Pulista on the Egyptian
     monuments; the land of the Philistines (Philistia) being termed
     Palastu and Pilista in the Assyrian inscriptions. They occupied
     the five cities of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath, in
     the south-western corner of Canaan, which belonged to Egypt up
     to the closing days of the Nineteenth Dynasty. The occupation
     took place during the reign of Rameses III. of the Twentieth
     Dynasty. The Philistines had formed part of the great naval
     confederacy which attacked Egypt, but were eventually repulsed
     by that Pharaoh, who, however, could not dislodge them from
     their settlements in Palestine. As they did not enter Palestine
     till the time of the Exodus, the use of the name Philistines in
     Gen. 26:1 must be proleptic. Indeed the country was properly
     Gerar, as in ch. 20.
     
       They are called Allophyli, "foreigners," in the Septuagint,
     and in the Books of Samuel they are spoken of as uncircumcised.
     It would therefore appear that they were not of the Semitic
     race, though after their establishment in Canaan they adopted
     the Semitic language of the country. We learn from the Old
     Testament that they came from Caphtor, usually supposed to be
     Crete. From Philistia the name of the land of the Philistines
     came to be extended to the whole of "Palestine." Many scholars
     identify the Philistines with the Pelethites of 2 Sam. 8:18.
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Philistines, those who dwell in villages