J13-4: The Gaza Strip Was NOT The Location Of Ancient Philistine

“This is the land that still remains:
all the regions of the P’lishtim
and all the G’shurifrom the Shichor
which fronts Egypt,
to the border of ‘Ekron
(northward from there
the land is considered
as belonging to the Kena‘ani)
— that is, the territory of the rulers
of the P’lishtim in ‘Azah, Ashdod,
Ashkelon, Gat and ‘Ekron;
also the ‘Avim…”
-Joshua 13:2-3

Verse 2 specifically calls out one part of the Promised Land that Joshua did NOT conquer: the territory of the P’lishtim or the Philistines.

Keep in mind that the word Palestine is simply the Greek word for “Philistine” (or Philistia). 

And unfortunately, verse 2 makes it crystal clear that Israel utterly failed in being able to conquer any part of Philistine.

The geographical boundaries of Philistine territory stretched from the Shichor also known as the Wadi of Egypt (Wadi is Arabic for “river”) all the way to the Ekron in the north.

We’re told there were 5 major cities that made up Philistine.

They were GAZA, ASHDOD, ASHKELON, GAT and EKRON.

These cities bordered the coast of Canaan right next to the Mediterranean Sea.

Given this geographical location, it’s not surprising that way before this group of people became known as the Philistines, they were known as the “Sea Warriors”.

Most scholars believe that these ancient Sea Peoples came from the largest and most populous of the Greek islands (known as the Crete).

These were NOT friendly folk.

They would come out, attack and then take over surrounding territories.

In their time, they occupied land as far south as Egypt and even conquered territory all the way up modern day Istanbul, Turkey (in the far north and east).

Before closing, I need to put to rest a common misconception.