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  • From: James Read <J.Read-2 AT sms.ed.ac.uk>
  • To: Kevin Riley <klriley AT alphalink.com.au>
  • Cc: B Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Origin of the Phillistines
  • Date: Sun, 24 May 2009 13:38:02 +0100

Hi Kevin,


Are you sure the Philistines that Abraham dealt with are the same
Philistines that David defeated?

Yes and no! They are the same in the sense that they live in the same place and are of the same basic descent. They are not the same in the sense that have been conquered by some offshore invaders and their genes have likely mixed to some extent. Apart from pottery and architecture their language and culture are pretty much the same as before the invasion, though.


Or could this be another example of
Macedonians' where the name of a place remains, but the inhabitants change?

See above. Anyway, re Makedonia. There is still a region called Makedonia in northern Greece (not to be confused with the country). Thessaloniki is the main city of Makedonia. I know, because that's where I live when I'm in Greece.



Just out of curiosity, if the Philistines were Hamitic and from Egypt, why
would they speak a Semitic language? Does this not require a language
change just as if they were Indo-European?

Ok. I'm sure you are aware that the language group 'Semitic' is a misnomer. Just be a language is 'Semitic' does not mean that the tribe that speaks it has to be a descendant of Shem.

James Christian





Kevin Riley

-------Original Message-------

From: James Read
Date: 24/05/2009 7:39:03 PM

It seems more likely that the Philistine language has always been of
Semitic origin and any traces of Indo-European loan words and
Mycenaean pottery can perhaps be better explained by the influence of
Later invaders. Indigenous peoples tend to cherish their language and
Culture and not all invasions are successful in supplanting the
Language (there are still communities in Wales that speak a Gaelic
Dialect to this day).

And so the above linguistic and archaeological observations perhaps
Best answer the question of where those who later invaded and
Influenced the philistines came from but not what the original
Language of the philistines was or where the philistines originally
Came from. The accounts in Genesis make it clear to us that the
Philistines are

a) of Hamitic origin (more precisely from Egypt)
B) spoke a Semitic language from their very conception as a nation

James Christian


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