Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

Yes, the Philistines are generally understood to have come from an original Aegean area. I believe it's surmised that Cretans were probably settled in the areas of the Negev by the Egyptians who repelled the attacks of the Philistines and other Sea People in 1175 BC, and then settled them as mercenaries and a kind of 'buffer' people throughout the Levant.

So you're identifying the Pelethites as 'hoplites', taking the ה as part of the noun, rather than the article? Interesting. It does break the symmetry with Cherethites, though, which evidently does have the article, but that's no big deal. The problem, though, is that 'hoplite' is a Greek word, not Semitic, and I don't think you find any hoplites before about 600 BC at the earliest. I don't think Homer mentions hoplites at all, does he? And if he doesn't, it would suggest there were no hoplites before the 8th century BC. So the suggestion, as much as I like it, would appear to be quite anachronistic. The only alternative is to suggest that the text is written at a time when hoplites were known throughout the wider region, which would probably be the Persian Era.

GEORGE ATHAS

Dean of Research,

Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)

Sydney, Australia

From: K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
Date: Friday, 12 April 2013 3:16 AM
To: George Athas <george.athas AT moore.edu.au>
Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Hebrew was linguistically isolated?

George:

On 4/10/13, George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au> wrote:

The Cherethites in David's bodyguard are commonly understood to be

'Cretans'. We Greeks were everywhere, man!

If they were Cretans, then they must have had a colony near or among

the Philistines, with a recognizable geographic area 1 Sam 30:14, Ezek

25:16.

GEORGE ATHAS

Dean of Research,

Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)

Sydney, Australia

Karl W. Randolph.