The Philistines in Transition: A History from ca. 1000-730 b.c.e.

• Author: Na'aman, Nadav
• Position: Review

By CARL S. EHRLICH. Studies in the History and Culture of the Ancient Near East, vol. 10. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1996. Pp. xii + 235.

The focus of historical research has shifted recently to local history and to the study of minorities and marginal groups. This trend does not pass unnoticed in the study of the ancient Near East, and among the objects of such inquiry are Israel's neighbors in the first millennium B.C.E. Unfortunately, the number of extra-biblical sources available on these peoples is limited in the extreme. Archaeological excavations conducted in their territories added much to our understanding of their cultural traditions, but the information gained from excavations is not enough for writing linear history. As a result, it is impossible to write a detailed history of kingdoms like Edom, Moab, Ammon, Damascus, and Tyre that is not heavily dependent on the Bible and is not combined with the history of Israel.

Ehrlich's book is devoted to local history and suffers from the same limitations as all other works on the history of Israel's neighbors. The book is a revision of his doctoral dissertation, presented to the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University in 1991. The author systematically describes the history of Philistia in the period from the assumed time of the emergence of the Israelite state under King David (ca. 1000 B.C.E.) until Tiglath-pileser III's conquest and subjugation of Philistia (734-732 B.C.E.). Ehrlich has collected all the biblical and extra-biblical sources, discussed them in detail and tried to write a linear history, while admitting that there are many gaps in the chain of events.

The book is divided into two parts: a detailed historical description, followed by two long appendices. In chapter one (pp. 1-21) Ehrlich introduces the subject by summarizing what is known about Philistine origins, their settlement in Canaan and their material culture. Chapter two (pp. 23-56) discusses the wars of David with the Philistines and the extent of the Philistine subjugation under David and Solomon. Chapter three (pp. 57-77) describes the history of the Philistines from the division of the Israelite monarchy until the rise of the Assyrian empire in the Levant. Chapter four (pp. 79-104) discusses the contacts of Philistia with Assyria in the late ninth-eighth centuries and the conquest and subjugation of the Philistine kingdoms by Tiglath-pileser III.

In the appendices, Ehrlich...