Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 1:53 AM, James Read wrote:
> Hi Yitzhak,
>
> Genesis 10 tells us about the Philistines that came out from Mizraim. This
> is clearly talking about the origins of those indigenous to the area of
> Philistia.

Genesis 10 is talking in one sweep about the Philistines and the Caphtorites.
Caphtor is a place name.  Caphtor is the island that Iron Age II prophets
associate with the Philistines as their original homeland.    So, even though
it says they are from Egypt, this is no ground to see them as "indigenous".
In fact, the association in Genesis 10 with Caphtor, suggests that these
may in fact be the same Philistines as in other Biblical books.  Anyway,
even in your sentence above, you don't indicate how you know that there
*were* indigenous Philistines, or that those indigenous to the area during
the Bronze Age in the area that was in the Iron Age called Philistia were
called Philistines by their peers.    It is taken as an assumption on which
your reading of Genesis 10 is based.  How do you figure that assumption?

Yitzhak Sapir