Philistines

Samson’s adventures begin with a marriage to a Philistine bride that goes awry, leading him to burn the Philistines’ grain fields. Later, he sleeps with a Gazan prostitute and tears out the city’s gates. Finally, he leads Delilah, a courtesan, to believe that his hair is the source of his strength, and the Philistines capture him. Facing execution, Samson turns to God to help avenge him—only then does he fulfill his foretold role that he would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines

After Saul’s failed reign, David might seem like Israel’s salvation. Yet the biblical narrative offers a subtle but pointed critique—signaling that David’s impending rule will be no better than Saul’s.

Samson, Saul, Jonathan, and David insult the Philistines for being uncircumcised. Antiochus IV prohibited circumcision, while Mattathias and later John Hyrcanus forced others to circumcise. In Roman times too, Emperor Hadrian forbade circumcision, and Bar Kochba circumcised Jews by force. Was circumcision a cause of the revolt?

The Bible contains numerous references to ceramic pots, bowls, jugs, and other types of dishes. What do we know about these vessels?

Abraham and Isaac’s sojourn in Gerar and Beersheba, and their covenants with the local ruler Abimelech, reflect the historical circumstances of Judea during the Persian period. They are living in the Promised Land, struggling with the local people, but they come to terms with the friendly and God-fearing ruler.

Tradition and source criticism both see two ark traditions in the biblical text: The Ark of the Covenant and the Ark of the Testimony. The former accompanies Israelite troops into battle; it appears in Numbers 10 (וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן) and in the stories of battles against the Philistines and Ammonites in Samuel. The latter remains in the Tabernacle, serving as a seat for YHWH’s glory and revelation.

Two places in the Bible describe God striking people with hemorrhoids (ophalim): the curses in Deuteronomy 28 and the story of the Philistines’ capture of the ark in 1 Samuel 5-6. In the latter, the Philistines make golden statues of their afflicted buttocks to propitiate the Israelite deity. Traditional readings replace these crass references with the less offensive term techorim (abscesses).

The current scholarship about the identity of the Philistines, who they were, when they came to the Levant, and why.

Several biblical and non-biblical texts describe encounters with flying venomous snakes in the Sinai and Arabian deserts. Egyptian iconography helps clarify what is being pictured.