Israel had its fair share of enemies over its ancient existence, ranging from localized tribal forces to vast empires. None quite compared to the Philistines. It wasn’t because the Philistines were the strongest, certainly no stronger than the Babylonians. Instead, they are particularly fresh on our minds due to their long history of entanglement, good and bad, with God’s people across the ages.
When we think of the Philistines, we often jump to the stories of David and Samson (as in the picture). However, they debuted in the Bible long before that, as far back as the days of Abraham. Remember when Abraham, out of fear for his life, lied to King Abimelek 亞比米勒 {ya3-bi3-mi3-le4} that Sarah was his sister instead of his wife? That Abimelek was the king of Gerar, a Philistine state. After God saved everyone from that fiasco, Abimelek made a treaty with Abraham, paving way for the Philistines and the Patriarch to live in peace with each other.
Abraham’s son, Isaac, had an almost identical blunder with another Abimelek (Abimelek was likely a title of the king because it literally means “My father is king”.) Again, God kept the peace between the two tribes. But that good will was about to end soon.
Their conflict began after the Israelites entered the Promised Land. When Joshua grew old, God informed him of all the lands that were yet to be conquered, one of which was the land of the Philistines, or Philistia. The Israelites eventually failed to complete that mission, leaving the Philistines as thorns by their side for centuries to come.
Throughout the time of the Judges, which lasted about 400 years, until when David subdued the Philistines during his reign, Israel continued to struggle with them, sometimes gaining the upper hand, while other times completely oppressed by them. Even though David and Solomon ruled over Philistia, Israel eventually lost its influence over its outer states due to its rebellion against God and ended up in skirmishes with the Philistines from time to time.
During the numerous struggles with the Philistines, there were some interesting incidents with these people. Eli’s sons once lost the Ark of Covenant to the Philistines. Later, the Philistines realized what a bad idea that was and returned it. The struggle with the Philistines also produced many champions on both sides, including Samson, Goliath, Saul, David, and David’s warriors. David himself also took refuge at a Philistine king while he was running away from Saul’s murderous pursuit, because “enemy of my enemy”, right?
Philistia was also on the receiving end of many onerous prophecies, as in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Zechariah. Those would also be the last places we hear of them. The prophecies were fulfilled and Philistia was no more, just like Israel and Judah. The only difference was that God eventually restored His people because of His faithfulness. Philistia remained a distant memory of people’s failure and God’s justice, wisdom, and love.
Photo from Public Domain