Mourning of the Philistines The next nation on Jeremiah’s prophecy list is Philistia. The Philistines occupied a small strip of land on the southern coast. The modern area of Gaza encompasses a portion of it, although the Philistines controlled a larger area than that. The Philistines had occupied five main cities: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath. They had migrated from Caphtor around 1200 BC (Jeremiah 47:4, Amos 9:7). By Jeremiah’s time, Gath had already been destroyed a couple of centuries earlier. When the Persians arrived a half-century after Jeremiah, the Philistines were no longer a people. Amidst the prophecy […]
Tag Archives: Philistines
Coast
“Your western boundary will be the coast of the Great Sea. This will be your boundary on the west.” Numbers 34:6 Continuing west from the Shephelah, we arrived at the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The coastal plain is characterized by its flatness and being on the coast (hence the region’s name). This area allowed for easy, unimpeded travel. The main international airport that serves Israel today is located in this region near the modern city of Tel Aviv. I had once wondered why they hadn’t built the airport closer to Jerusalem. The simplest answer is that if you go […]