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  • From: George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
  • To: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Origin of the Phillistines
  • Date: Sun, 24 May 2009 20:15:25 +1000

James,

We're skirting the bounds of relevance for B-Hebrew here. But, because there
is a linguistic component under consideration, I'll allow it.

Firstly, if we identify the Philistines as the 'Pereset' of the Egyptian
inscriptions of Ramesses III, then the Philistines did indeed come to the
Levant from Egypt. However, they didn't originate in Egypt - they were just
repelled from Egypt by Ramesses III after coming from the Aegean. Ramesses
III claims to have settled them along the southern coast of the Levant, where
we find them in biblical texts. Gen 10 is probably preserving the memory of
the Philistine movement (which implies that Gen 10 is dated after the early
12th century BC).

Furthermore, it is probable that the Indo-European Philistines, who
originally wouldn't have spoken a Semitic language, formed only a particular
stratum of the society that made up the Philistine city states. It is most
likely that the Philistine fighters, whom Ramesses III settled along the
southern Levantine coast, became the overlords (or something like that) of
the local population, who were Semitic speakers. In time, the smaller
military stratum (the invaders) of the society took on the language of the
local populace. Before long, therefore, the Indo-European Philistines became
Semitic speakers.


Regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au





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