Migration – lessons ancient and modern

I’m writing this from the island of Crete where I am filming with the Christian Television Association. It’s a land rich in archaeology and creates a great backdrop for teaching the Bible. The associations with Paul’s missionary travels and the leadership of Titus in the early church make it an important location for Christian history.

But Crete is also a key location for the origin of the Philistines. Who were the Philistines? Many of us remember them only for the story of Goliath and assume they were just the “baddies” of the Bible, enemies of Israel, but there is a lot more to them.

Home of the Philistines

The Bible mentions the origins of the Philistines, in Amos 9 v7 and Jeremiah 47v4, as the island of “Caphtor”. That this is an ancient word for Crete is made more likely by a 15th-century BC Egyptian wall relief from the Tomb of Rekhmire which shows Minoan visitors from Crete, which the Egyptians called “Keftiu”.

Texts outside of the Bible confirm that from 1200 BC there was an epic event that triggered the movement of what were called the “Sea Peoples” from Crete and other Greek islands to the mainland Mediterranean coastline.

The date is significant. There is broad scholarly agreement that 1200 BC marks a time called the Late Bronze Age collapse. For various economic and environmental reasons, the Aegean suffered catastrophes that led to mass migration. People were on the move.

The Sea Peoples

Some went north to the lands that would become Turkey and probably explain the disappearance of the Hittites. Some went south to Egypt and in 1175 BC there was a large naval battle between the Sea Peoples and the armies of Ramesses III. The invaders were defeated and driven back.

However, the coastal land of Canaan was open to settlement and it is here that the Philistines came to occupy five major cities including Gaza, Ashkelon and Gath. They brought with them Greek culture, including a distinctive Mycenaean pottery which is still commonly found by archaeologists in the region. The Philistines of Caphtor had found a new home. And their arrival coincided with the times of Samson the judge and King David.

A recent archaeological investigation has given even clearer evidence that the Bible is correct to identify Crete and nearby islands as the homeland of the Philistines. Daniel Master of Harvard University directed excavations at Ashkelon which recovered remains of individuals from 1100 BC from which DNA could be extracted. Their remains were a genetic match to burials of the time from Crete.

From Philistine to Palestine

It isn’t quite clear why they were called the Philistines, but the name has a long history. Rameses III’s account of his naval victory calls them the “Peleset”. In Hebrew they are called the “Pelishtim”. The Greeks would call their land “Philistia” and much later the Romans remembered them by calling the land “Palestine”.

The Philistines were migrants who arrived as a result of a massive upheaval in the Mediterranean around 1200 BC. It reminds me that large-scale population movements have always occurred down through history and gone on to shape local cultures.

The Bible records the contest between the Israelites and the Philistines over the land of Canaan with remarkable detail. The Philistines were an advanced people. They controlled the metal trade (1 Sam.13v19-22) and brought with them military strategy, including the use of chariots (1 Sam.13v5). The reference to an instrument called a Gittith (Pss 8, 81 and 84) is thought to refer to a musical instrument from the Philistine town of Gath.

The good and the bad

We sometimes use the word “Philistine” to describe a person who has no cultural taste – that’s highly inaccurate!

In the Bible, the most famous Philistine was Goliath, but we read of many others – and some are more friendly to the Israelites. In 2 Samuel 15v21 we read of Ittai, a Philistine loyal to King David during the time of Absalom’s rebellion. There is also an intriguing reference to someone who might be a Philistine from Gath being blessed by God for looking after the Ark of the Covenant on its way to Jerusalem (2 Sam.6v11).

The Philistine story is a reminder that people have always been moving around the earth for all sorts of reasons. The reference Amos makes to the Philistines puts their movement alongside that of Israel: “Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt … the Philistines from Caphtor?” (Amos 9v7). What a profound thought. God was in control of the movement of the Israelites from Egypt as part of the redemptive history leading to Christ. But God was also involved in the migration of the Philistines. The providential hand of God is at work in the movements of nations and even migration forms part of His mysterious plans!