PHILISTiEA. 
94 
Samuel, endeavours to fliow that they were originally of 
the ifle of Crete. The reafons which led him to think 
that Caphtor is the ifle of Crete are as follow : The Phi- 
liftines were ttrangers in Paleftine, as appears in various 
parts of Scripture; fuch as Gen. x. 14. Deut. ii. 23. Jer. 
xlvii. 4. and Amosix. 7. whence the Septuagint always 
tranflate this name Strangers. Their proper name was 
Cherethims, for Ezekiel (xxv. 16.) fpeaking againfl the 
Philiftines, has thefe words, “ I wdllftretch out mine hand 
upon the Philiftines, and I will cut off the Cherethims, 
and deftroy the remnant of the fea-coaft.” Zephaniah 
(ii. 5.) inveighing againfl: the fame people, fays, “Wo 
unto the inhabitants of the fea-coafts, the nation of the 
Cherethites.” And Samuel (Book I. xxx. 14.) fays that 
the Amalekites made an irruption into the country of 
the Cherethites, that is to fay, of the Philiftines, as the 
l'equel of the difcourfe proves. And afterwards the 
kings of Judah had foreign guards called the Cherethites 
and Pelethites, who were of the number of the Philiftines ; 
(2 Sam. xv. 18.) The Septuagint, under the name 
Cherethites, underftood the Cretans; and by Cheritli they 
underftood Crete. Betides, the Scripture lays, that the 
Philiftines came from the ifle of Caphtor. Now we fee 
no ifland in the Mediterranean wherein the marks whereby 
the Scripture deferibes Caphtor and Cherethim agree 
better than in the ifle of Crete. The name Cretim or Che¬ 
rethim is the fame with that of Cretenfes. The Cretans 
are one of the molt ancient and celebrated people which 
inhabited the iflands of the Mediterranean. They pre¬ 
tended to have been produced originally out of their own 
foil. This ifland was w'ell peopled in the time of the 
Trojan war. Homer calls it “the ifland with a hundred 
cities.” The city of Gaza in Paleftine went by the name 
of Mina a, becaufe Minos king of Crete, coming into that 
country, called this ancient city by his own name. 
Whether thefe arguments are convincing, it is not for 
us to determine ; but Wells does not think they are, as 
lie is of the fame opinion with the authors of the Univer- 
fal Hiftory, who fay, that Coptus, the name of an old city 
of Egypt, is a corruption of the ancient Caphtor. It is 
not, however, of great importance to determine whether 
they came from Crete, from Cappadocia, or from Egypt: 
they had certainly been a conliderable time in the land 
of Canaan, when Abraham arrived there, A.M. 2083. They 
were then a very powerful people, were governed by kings, 
and in pofleflion of feveral confiderable cities. The race 
of kings then in power were honoured with the title of 
Abimelcch, which fignifies Father and King. This race, 
however, was but of ftiort duration ; for their monarchy 
became an ariftocracy of five lords, who were, as far as we 
can difeover, partly independent of each other, though 
they aided in concert for the common caufe. This form 
of government was again fucceeded by another race of 
kings, diftinguiflied by the title of Achijh, though they 
alfo bore that of Abimelcch. The Philiftines appear to 
have been a very warlike people, induftrious, and lovers 
of freedom ; they did not circumcife, and in the early 
periods of their hiftory held adultery in the greateft ab¬ 
horrence. “ Their character (fay the authors of the Uni- 
verfal Hiftory) muft be confidered at different periods; 
for we may lay they were not always the fame people. In 
the days of Abraham and Ifaac, they were without all 
doubt a righteous and hofpitable nation ; but afterwards 
a revolution in government, religion, and morals, may 
have enfued. From thenceforward they became like 
other idolatrous nations; the fame enormities crept in 
and prevailed among them. They are conftantly men¬ 
tioned in Scripture as ftrangers ; and, though pofleffed of 
a very confiderable part of the Land of Promife, yet 
God did not command them to be driven out, they being 
Egyptians by defeent, and not original natives, whofe 
land only was promifed to Abraham and his feed. Their 
arrogance and ambition were great; and fo irreconcil¬ 
able was their enmity to the Ifraelites, that one would 
be almoft tempted to think they were created on purpofe 
to be a thorn in their tides; for, though the hand of God 
was evidently againfl them feveral times, and particularly 
when they detained the ark, yet they hardened their hearts, 
and clofed their eyes againfl convidtion. They feem to 
have entertained a very fond veneration for their deities, 
in w r hich they perfifted, though they were eye-witneffes 
of the fhame and ignominy which befel them in the pre¬ 
fence of the captive ark ; nay, they were fo biaffed in their 
favour, as to imagine that their gods might prevail againfl 
Him who had in fo glaring a manner put them to fhame 
and difgrace. They were much engaged in trade ; which, 
confidering their fituation, they may have exercifed from 
the beginning; but, by the acceflion of the fugitive Edo¬ 
mites in David’s time, they rofe to fo great a reputation 
as merchants, that the Greeks, it feems, preferred them 
to all other nations in that refpedl, and from them called 
all the country bordering on theirs Palejline. Their lan¬ 
guage was not fo different from that fpoken by the He¬ 
brews as to caufe any difficulty for them to converfe toge¬ 
ther, as will be perceived by their intercourfe with Abra¬ 
ham and Ifaac; fo that, in all this region, the feveral na¬ 
tions fpoke one and the fame tongue, perhaps with fome va¬ 
riation of dialedl. They had doubtlefs the arts and fei- 
ences in common with the moft learned and ingenious 
among their contemporaries, and perhaps fome of them 
in greater perfeftion. . They had giants among them ; but 
whetherthey were originally of the breed of the Anakims, 
who retired hither when they were expelled from Hebron, 
or were fprung from accidental births, is not eafily deter¬ 
mined. We muft not forget, that the invention of the 
bow and arrow is aferibed to this people. 
“Their religion was different at different times ; under 
their firft race of kings, they ufed the fame rites wdth the 
Hebrews. Abimelech, in the fin he had like to have com¬ 
mitted with Sarah, through Abraham’s timidity, was fa¬ 
voured with a divine admonition from God ; and, by his 
fpeech and behaviour at that time, it feems as if he had 
been ufed to converfe with the deity. In after-times, 
they fell intoendlefs fuperftitions, and different kinds of 
idolatry; each of the principal or five cities feemed to 
have an idol of its own. Mama; Marnas, or Marnafh, 
was worftiipped at Gaza, and is laid to have migrated into 
Crete, and to have become the Cretan Jupiter. Dagon 
was worftiipped at Azotus; he feems to have been the 
greateft, the moft ancient, and moft favourite, god they 
had ; to which may be added, that he perhaps fubfffted 
thelongeftof any that did not ftraggle out of the country. 
To him they aferibed the invention of bread-corn, or of 
agriculture, as his name imports. We cannot enter into 
the common notion of his being reprefented as a mon- 
fter, half-man, half-fifh ; ndr confequently into another, 
almoft as common, that he is the fame with the Syrian 
goddefs Derceto, who, we are told, was reprefented un¬ 
der fome fuch mixed form. Our opinion is, that this 
idol was in fhape wholly like a man ; for we read of his 
head, his hands, and his feet. Fie flood in a temple at 
Azotus, and had priefts of his own who paid him a very 
conllant attendance. Next to Dagon was Baalzebub the 
godofEkron. In the text of the New Teftament he is 
called Baalzebub, and the prinee of devils. His name is 
rendered “lord of flies;” which by fome is held to be a 
mock appellation beftowed on him by the Jews ; but 
others think him fo ftyled by his worfhippers, as Hercules 
Apomyios, and others, were, from his driving thofe in¬ 
fers away ; and urge, that Ahaziah, in his fickr.efs, 
would fcarcely have applied to him, if his name had car¬ 
ried in it any reproach. But it muft be remembered, it 
is the facred hiftorian that makes ufe'of that contemptu¬ 
ous term in derilion ; whereas the idolatrous monarch, 
who was one of his votaries, might call him by his com¬ 
mon name, fuppofed to have been Baal-zebaoth, “ the 
lord of armies,” or Baal-Jhamim, “ lord of heaven,” or 
fome other bordering on Baal-zebub. Not to dwell on 
this obfeurity, it appears that he became an oracle of the 
higheft repute for omnifcience and veracity; that he had 
3 priefts 
