(Substance of an Address)
It is interesting to trace the history of the Philistines in relation to God's people Israel, and instructive to learn what God has for the saints of this day in what they represent. From Genesis 10 we see that the Philistines were of the sons of Ham (Gen. 10:6-14), and came from Caphtor (Amos 9:7), which seems to have been in or near Egypt, and they occupied the land on the sea coast, to the west of the possessions of Dan and Simeon, extending to the north of Joppa, and a little to the south of Gaza.
They were in possession of their land before Abraham came to Canaan, and might well have disputed Israel's claim to the land in a later day, on the ground that they were there before them. Theirs was a natural claim, but Israel's rested on the call and promise of God, and on the word that "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel" (Deut. 32:8).
The Philistines did not worship the true God, they had their own gods (Judges 10:6), one of whom is named as Dagon in 1 Samuel 5. However they came to possess their lands, they knew not what it was to be delivered out of Egypt by the hand of God, to be sheltered by the blood of the lamb that was slain, to be brought across the Red Sea by divine power, to be sustained by the bread of God and refreshed by water from the flinty rock while crossing the wilderness, to pass over Jordan dry shod because of the presence of the ark of God, and to have Jehovah fight for them in dispossessing the nations of Canaan.
What marked the Philistines in the days of Abraham and Isaac was their striving to deprive God's servants of the water He had provided for them. Abraham had to reprove "Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away" (Gen. 21:25); and when Isaac dwelt in Gerar he found "all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth" (Gen. 26:15). When Isaac "digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father," the Philistines strove with him, so that he called the one Esek, which means "Quarrel," and the other Sitnah, which means "Opposition."
So that we have in the Philistines the religious men of this world who have no knowledge of the true God, and who seek to hinder the saints of God from obtaining the divine refreshment that God, in His goodness, has made available for us. Happy it is for us when we can remove from the influence of the religious men of this world, and, like Isaac, find true refreshment without contention in our Rehoboth, where the Lord makes room for us, and makes us fruitful (Gen. 26:22). Back to the land, in separation from the Philistines, and where the Lord appeared to him, Isaac could build his altar, call upon the Name of the Lord, pitch his tent, and find abundance of refreshment from the well he digged at Beer-sheba, where his father before him had called "on the Name of the Lord, the Eternal God" (Gen. 21:33; Gen. 26:23-25).
There are many mentions of the Philistines in the Book of Judges, by far the most of them in connection with Samson, but the first in chapter 3 tells us that they were left in the land, along with remnants of the Canaanites, "to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which He commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses" (Judges 3:3-4). God did not destroy them as He had the nations of the land of Canaan, for if in the destruction of the nations of Canaan we see the power of Satan broken, in the Philistines we see the power of Satan still active, as allowed of God, to test His people.
The last four chapters of the Book of Judges show the dreadful state of Israel in the days of the Judges, for though these chapters come at the end of the book, they evidently speak of incidents quite early, for Phinehas, "the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron," was alive and ministering before the ark at the time spoken of in Judges 20:28. Because of Israel's departure from Jehovah, He allowed them to come under the power of their oppressors, one of which was the Philistines, as is stated in Judges 13:1.
God had marked the set time of forty years for this oppression, and had prepared a deliverer, who would "begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines" (Judges 13:5). How very solemn it is to contemplate that God, in His government, has allowed His people, down the centuries, to be oppressed by the religious men of this world. Satan has taken the occasion of the failure of God's people to oppress them, and God has allowed him to do it so that His people might cry to Him for deliverance. Although God's saints have often been assailed by the civil powers of the world, the most bitter persecution has come from the religious men of the world.
Although there was much in Samson's relations with the Philistines to deplore, he is nevertheless named among the faithful in Hebrews 11:32, and the Lord's purpose in raising him up was accomplished, for he began to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, smiting them again and again, and slaying more in his death than in his life (Judges 16:30). God not only delivered Israel out of the Philistines' hand, but through David brought them into subjection, for it is written in 1 Chronicles 18:1, "David smote the Philistines, and subdued them."
In the reign of Jehoshaphat, the "fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah … also some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and tribute silver" (2 Chr. 17:10-11); but when Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat came to the throne, and walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, "the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines," and with other nations broke into Judah, "and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house" (2 Chr. 21:6, 16, 17). As in the days of the Judges, the Lord used the Philistines for the chastening of His wayward people.
King Ahaz also followed the wicked ways of the kings of Israel, provoking the Lord, and bringing upon himself and his people God's displeasure and judgment, and the Lord allowed the Philistines to invade the country, to capture some of the cities and villages, and dwell there, for Ahaz had "made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the Lord" (2 Chr. 28:1-4, 18, 19).
From the Scriptures we have considered it must be evident that the Philistines represent the power of the enemy that the Lord allows for the discipline and chastening of His people when they transgress against Him. Satan's power has been broken in the death of Christ, but it has not yet been entirely set aside. The day will come when Satan will be bound, and cast into the bottomless pit, but till then God will allow this power to chasten His people, as He has done down the ages.
H. Taberner.