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  • From: Jonathan Bailey <jonathan.bailey AT gmx.de>
  • To: Biblical Hebrew list <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Pelest?
  • Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2000 23:28:01 +0100


I am wondering about how strong the identification of the pelest with the
Philistines is.
As far as I know, we don't know the vowels in Egyptian, so all we really have
is plst.
Now I also hear that "l" and "r" have the same consonant in Egyptian, so it
may have
been prst. Now I also hear that some tests have only pls/prs. So I am
wondering
where we get the idea that a word identified as plst, prst, pls, or prs just
has to mean
"Philistines", particularly when we are not sure if the Egyptians would even
call them
"Philistines" even if they were dealing with them. Since there is no record
of the
"Hyskos" in any semitic record that I know of, apparently the Egyptians made
up a
name for them. What would keep them from doing the same for the Philistines?

And then, once the texts are established as definitively speaking of the
biblical
Philistines, we of course need to establish that our knowledge of the dating
and
reliability of the texts is unshakeably correct.

So I would like info from people up on their Egyptology about how strong this
connection is and exactly what the textual situation is like.




"If there are many wisemen in a city, this means that the city will soon
fall."
Babylonian proverb

Jonathan Bailey
Hochschule für Jüdische Studien
Heidelberg
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Column/9707/index.html



  • Pelest?, Jonathan Bailey, 02/01/2000

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