The Minoans, Philistines and God's People

All right, we're ready for the sermon today. And as I look back on what I've given some weeks ago, I look back and I realize this is actually part three. Because we started with a Parthenon, where the Greeks showed in their facade that area at the top with the story of the Greeks. And I went back to the Garden of Eden and all these personages that then became sort of their gods with a small g. And then the last time, Part II, had to do with the Minoan culture and how that started a super power in commerce and affected the cultures to the point that it became also decadent and so hedonistic that there was a major eruption that caused earthquakes and a tsunami that knocked that civilization down for a very long period. And eventually, they were conquered by the Messini, the Messinians, which were in Greece. And so in Part III today, it is called the Minoans, Philistines, and Gods People, Part II, because I just hadn't related to Parthenon as being Part I. Here you see the recreation of the palace and gnosis, Crete. You can imagine we're talking about probably 1700 BC. And in that area, they had five major palaces at the time. They were a super power of commerce, riches. And so in this Part II, we will see the history of the Philistines in the Promised Land because the Minoans fled and some made it into Israel and were known as the Philistines. And how they became the most dangerous enemy of Israel in the time of the judges all the way to the time of King David. And we're going to learn the very important lessons, how it applies in our Christian life.

So it goes from the Garden of Eden to this way of life that eventually the Greeks acquired, which was not based so much in their gods as it was based on reason. And their manner of life, independence, freedom, which comes all the way down to our day. So let's go to the next slide.

Now the Philistines from Crete had been settling down in Canaan even before the time of Abraham. So you see this Philistines, which were the Sea Peoples. These were some of the Minoans and other island areas because the Minoans were kind of like this city state that covered many islands. They were doing commerce throughout the Mediterranean area, as you can see in that map. And it included Israel. Now this was the high technology group that was just spreading their culture, their art, their technology. And so they became very prosperous in commerce, influential, and some even became kings in that area. As we read in Genesis 21 verses 32 through 34, it says, so Abimelech, who was one of the Philistine kings, rose and returned to the land of the Philistines. That was a coastal area. And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days. So these Aegean people with the Minoans, and they established one of the big trade areas in the land of Canaan. As the Bible knowledge commentary adds, quote, the Philistine settled in Palestine en masse around 1200 BC. However, some sea traders settled on the coast of Canaan early as Abraham, who lived around 2166 to 1991 BC. So you see this Minoan influence started real early at that time and spread out. And by the way, you have archeology confirming what was all this trade with what they call Minoan ware. These were vases. And if you've ever been to the museum there in Crete, you see just a high technology. Like I said, they were sort of like the US with inventors and very high intellectual power. Let's continue.

So they settled in the coast. Notice the five main cities of the Philistines. By the way, those five cities were called the Pentapolis, Penta 5, Polis City.

And the upper map, notice where Crete is. And it is just southwest a trip directly into Israel. It wasn't that far. The Philistines had superior technology and were hedonistic people. That means they put pleasure above just about everything else, although they worshipped the bull. And they did have their gods. But they wanted independence and pleasure above all, a trait inherited from the Minoans. Philistines were very similar. They were a great temptation for God's people, like participating in the sinful Las Vegas lifestyle of today. And we have this kind of a Playboy philosophy that permeates our society. And of course, that really undermines a lot of the family values. So we continue.

During the conquest under Joshua, he couldn't eradicate the Philistines, not only because of their technology, superior technology, but among whom dwelt the giants called Anakim in the Bible.

Joshua 11, 22 says, none of the Anakim were left in the land of the children of Israel. They remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod. And if you see there the map, you see the Philistine area to the southwest area. And so there were tribes of giants in those days. Now genetically, they didn't reproduce as much. And so eventually, you defeated a couple of them, and they couldn't have descendants, and it dwindled down. Now we do have a couple of tribes that could be considered of giants today. One are called the Wajilis in Africa. Very tall, very tall. A lot of them are basketball players. They come here to the country. Also, you have some giants from China. Some of them have become basketball players as well. Just like we also have a tribe of small people, which are in Africa, the pygmies. And they reproduce to that size. So there's not anything surprising that you had people that instead of being maximum six feet, could be seven or eight feet. But again, it was a minority. Just like the pygmies, they've never been able to spread out. So these Anakim were left in the land, in that place of the Philistines. OK, let's continue.

Now we go to the time of Judges.

Notice the Philistines. What kind of headwear did they have? Yes, they're characteristic feathers, feathered helmets from the Minoan times.

Judges 3, 1 through 4 says, now these are the nations which the Lord left, after Joshua had the conquest, that he might test Israel by them, namely, five lords of the Philistines. See, those were the five kings, the pentapolis we've talked about. And notice where these helmets are, feathered helmets. Those are the five big cities of the Philistines. And Joshua couldn't remove them. Now God said he left them to test Israel. It says, and they were left that he might test Israel by them to know whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. And they took their daughters to be their wives and gave them their daughters to their sons, and they served their gods. So it reminds you of Eden.

God tests Adam and Eve. He gives them all the trees in the Garden of Eden. They can eat to their delight. There's a one tree that he says, don't touch. And God goes, leaves them for a while, comes back and starts calling them and can't find them. And he finds them hiding behind a tree. And then he knew. They took of that fruit. Well, this is the same way. God says, look, I've given you this beautiful land, but just remember to keep my commandments. But I'm going to leave some of these for you to see, to test you, because if you don't have an opposite way, then it's not a test. And so I'm leaving them because I'm sure you're going to keep my law. You're going to want to live my way of life better. So God turns around and there they are celebrating with Baal and intermarrying and basically leaving God behind. It's a temptation, but hey, don't criticize them too much. We've done the same thing.

In this society, how many kids in the church actually stay? Not too many. Why? Big temptation out there looks a lot more fun than God's healthy fun inside the church.

I always thought we had to make church for the youth so much enjoyable and delightful and fun that they wouldn't have to see out there what is available. At least we tried that in our family to always have a time when they would never feel that the church was a burden, that it was boring, that it was just a burden on them. So this experiment didn't work out very well at all. Of course, God knew it in the long run, but he had a purpose for this. And so then to even worsen the situation, next slide, you already have the Philistines, what do you do? Well, now with a complete collapse of the Minoan culture and also the Mycenaean culture in Greece, they all head out with their ships and they tried to conquer Egypt. They were rebuffed. I showed you some of the temple wall paintings of the clash between the Egyptians and the Minoans at that time, the Sea Peoples. But then when they were defeated in Egypt, they came to their area where they were already Philistines. And so now you have this huge intake of Philistines. So during the time of the judges, more Philistines came from Crete and Aegean, part of the Sea Peoples who were defeated by the Egyptians. And these people settled in Philistia, which is the country of the Philistines. So now we get to the exciting part. You want to hear something about Samson? You want to hear about his fighting the Philistine? No, I didn't say I was going to say Philippians, but no, the Philistines. So let's look. OK, so here we are in the Book of Judges. We're at the time of Samson, who was a judge of Israel, but fell under the temptations of the worldly Philistine women. Judges 13, one and 14, one through four say, quote, again, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years. Now, the Philistines, that wasn't just that area, the Philistines came over and they actually dominated. The Israelites now, Samson went down to Timna, which is one of the Philistine cities, and saw a woman in Timna of the daughters of the Philistines. So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, I have seen a woman in Timna of the daughters of the Philistines. Now, therefore, get her for me as a wife. How would you like to be the parents? Oh, no, look who's he getting involved with? He's the enemies of God's people. This is one of Satan's major deceptions to come in with his very technologically advanced and all of this art. And and yet it's a depraved way of life.

So it says, but his father and mother, they objected for they did not know that it was of the Lord. God was behind the scenes because he wanted to get rid of the Philistines. He was going to use Samson as the tool to do it, that he was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time, the Philistines had dominion over Israel. So God has many different ways of carrying out things. This time, he endowed a human being with supernatural strength. And it didn't look like it worked out too well because he didn't have a second Samson. But Samson got the job done. Let's go to the next slide. Judges 14, 19 through 20. So Samson just went, of course, without his parents consent. And he married the Philistine. Samson's Philistine wife. Then when Samson went to visit his parents and came back, his wife had was given to another man who was a Philistine. And so Samson, you don't want to get his ire up. Believe me, you don't want to get his wrath up. Takes vengeance, destroying their crops. Remember tying the tails of the foxes with these torches and he burned down all their crops.

And then he killed 30 Philistines. Even more, we read in Judges 15, 12 through 20. When attacked, Samson strikes down a thousand Philistines with the jaw of a donkey. Where God had given him superhuman strength and he judged Israel for 20 years. So it shows the account that afterward he was dying of thirst and he thought he was just going to die. God had to do a miracle for him not to die from that exhaustion. But again, don't think this was just a small, this very strong muscular guy, kind of like these movies they have him. No, this was God's power that sustains this universe. And he gave him the point to the point where he could lift whole vehicles if he needed to. These huge gates that weighed tons and he could carry both of them. And he carried them uphill and put them at the end at the top of a hill. So this is a unique situation that God carries out. Let's go to the next slide. Next Judges 16 verse 5. Okay, so his wife is killed because they all want vengeance on him. So what does he do? Does he take an Israelite? He's a judge. He's supposed to teach God's law. No, no, he just has the lust for the Philistine women. Of course, higher technology.

It was like the Las Vegas where in the middle of a kind of a desert and people living in primitive situations, these cities and the women, of course, dressed up and frivolous and vain. Instead of the Israelite women that are more modest. So Samson having his weakness with women says judges 16 verse 5. Delilah who was, as the Bible says, a harlot offered money for Samson's secret. So they came to her and they said, we'll give you this enormous amount of money if you just discover what is the secret. How can this superhuman strength come upon Samson every time we attack him? Says judges 16, 1 and 5. Now Samson went to Gaza. This is one of those five cities of the Philistines and saw a harlot there and went into her. And the lords of the Philistines, these were the kings, came up to her and said to her, entice him and find out where his great strength lies. And by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him. And every one of us will give you 1100 pieces of silver. That's enormous, a fortune in those days. And as you know, Samson tried to play the game with her and he would say, well, my strength is so forth. And so then she would go and tell them to all the soldiers, they'd come and they'd do that. And then he'd just break everything and smash everything, throw guys like they're rag dolls around. He was thinking he was being clever. He was risking so much. But she implored him so many times that he eventually yielded the secret to the harlot. That it was his long hair because he was a Nazarite with a vow. And that was the symbol that if he had his hair cut, that Nazarite vow would be violated and along with that would be God's spirit and supernatural strength would be removed. And so they cut his hair and then he was captured and he thought, no, I'm going to get away with it. He didn't know that power was really from God.

This happens time and time again. God gives a person a gift and pretty soon they think, boy, I'm really doing great. Look at all that I can do. It's God's gift. It's not ours. We're borrowing it from him and he can take it away anytime he wants. And so he was captured and then they burned his eyes out. And so next slide. This is how Samson ended up. So Samson is blinded and taken as a prisoner. And there he meditates and repents before God. He is forgiven and his hair begins to grow. God giving him back his supernatural strength. But nobody knew that except Samson. And so here's one of these major pagan holidays that now they have.

The feast of Dagon, the God of the Seas, fish God. Of course, Minoans had this worship of the sea God. Dagon is another iteration, change from what used to be Neptune. The back in the time of what the Parthenon shows is that that fish God, which is half fish, half man, actually represented Noah. And the Greeks ridiculed him. He's the one that crossed from one part of the flood to the other. He was the one that survived. So anyways, in Judges 1623, the Philistines hold a big celebration to their sea and fish God, Dagon. This is from the Babylonian mythology worldwide.com, which is a historical investigation and all of these myths. It says Dagon is a prominent deity in Babylonian mythology. So we go back to the time of the Babylon and all the way to summer and the Sumerians right before the flood, right after the flood, rather. He's often associated with the sea and agriculture. Initially revered as a fertility God, Dagon's identity evolved over centuries, reflecting the changing cultural landscapes of the ancient Near East. The importance of Dagon in these cultures cannot be overstated. As a God of the sea, he was central to the lives of those who depended on fishing and maritime trade. And Minoans, that was where they got their riches from. Now I'd say in the last 40, 50 years, when they were able to translate Minoan script, Dr. C.H. Gordon says the divine name found in the Minoan ruins, the Guna equals Dagon and appears in Minoan linear A tablets on Crete around 1500 B.C. So again, it's the same God, but just because of the multiplication of languages, each one took their own ideas and names with them. So all of these Philistines are invited to this big religious holiday.

They thought for entertainment, let's bring old Samson, the humiliated Samson so we can jeer and ridicule him more. So next slide. Judges 16 verse 26. Samson braces himself against the famous Minoan style temple pillars. And these pillars from the Philistines are very similar to the ones that you see in the Minoan temples. They actually have the term capital in Hebrew in the Bible comes from the word Kapthor, which was the ancient name of Crete. And so these pillars, which the Israelites didn't have in their homes and things like that, but here, this was the architecture of the Philistines. So he braces himself against these pillars and pushes and two temple pillars, each six feet apart from each other of Minoan style have been found in Philistine cities. So as they have been excavating these different Philistine cities like Ekron and Gath and others, they find these big temples and with two pillars that sustain the entire roof, which they call it unique in that area of the Middle East. And then judges 1626 through 29, Samson brings the house down. Now that's a term that they use when everything is fantastic, but it actually comes from the total destruction. You brought the house down. Samson brought the house down. The Philistine temple with some 3000 people in it dealing them a great blow. So it talks there in the Bible that they brought all the great ones and all the administration of the King and the King and every, and that whole group was wiped out in just a minute with a roof collapsing on all of them. And probably Delilah was there too. So that's the end of her. If that's the case.

Okay. So then now we go to a very interesting part of the history of the Philistines. And to me, it's fascinating how archaeology sheds light on the Bible.

And so the Philistines charge a certain amount to have from the Israelites to have their tools basically sharpened. And so let's read this account. It says in Saul's day, the Philistines had the monopoly of iron tools and weapons. And archaeology, the first age of iron is around the time the Philistines arrived in Israel. It's called the Iron Age. And so as you go down to the 1100s when Saul lived, BC, the Philistines had superior technology. They got to fight with iron swords. The Israelites had bronze and wooden swords. So you can imagine who won. Bronze is not as strong as iron.

First Samuel 13, 19 says, quote, there were no blacksmiths in Israel. In other words, the Philistines control them. They did not want the Israelites to be able to create their own iron swords or tools. It all depended on them having the Philistines give them what was convenient. The Philistines would not allow them because they were afraid that Israelites would make iron swords and spears.

So one had bronze technology. The other one had iron technology. The Hebrew term pym appears in the Bible in 1 Samuel 13, 21, where it describes the charge for sharpening plow chairs and maddox. Maddox are a type of pickaxe. The King James Version had previously translated the term as a file because the translators of the King James Bible, they didn't know what that Hebrew term pym meant.

So they said, well, they brought the tools to them. So it must be that the Philistines were filing their tools. So they called it a file. The New King James Bible, which we use, corrected the translation based on the archaeological discovery. And so pym is a stone weight of the type used to weigh the value of silver ingots like the ones found in Ngedi.

So actually it was a weight that how much would it be to go ahead and sharpen the tools? That was the price. So we actually were able to improve our understanding of the Bible through this archaeological discovery. Now it appears David, who lived among the Philistines as a soldier who discovered their iron technology. So then when David finally was made king, Saul was killed by the Philistines. David was able to bring in the iron technology and broke the Philistine monopoly.

So let's go to David's period now. Next and you see here, this is on the right, you have from that Egyptian temple of the Philistine defeat, it has one of the heads of the Philistines, what they look like. The same picture as you have there, remember the Feistos disk back in like 1700, that's what they look like.

It's the same people coming in from the ocean, from the seas. In the Saul's days, the Philistines had, no, I'm sorry, it says here in David's time, with God helping him, because God didn't need the technology, but he made it available. He was able to enable David to have iron at that time, and David slew the Philistine Goliath. So he would have had that headdress. And later, being blessed with iron weapons, they defeated the Philistines and took over much of the territory.

First Chronicles 14, 16 through 17 says, quote, so David did as God commanded him, and they drove back the army of the Philistines from Gibeon as far as Gizur. Then the fame of David went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations. No one dared face David. So let's go next slide. We see here the extent of David's kingdom.

And notice what was left of the Philistine territory. Just a sliver of land. That's on the west, southwest area. What was left of the Philistines was conquered by the Syrians and then by the Babylonians, and they disappeared from history. But not their Minoan ways or their temptations for God's people. That is not finished. So quickly, let's go to next and the final slide. Lessons to be learned. We got three lessons. Number one, just as in Israel's day, God has left a sinful ways of society to tempt us, to see if we will continue to obey his laws or to succumb to the temptations of the world.

As Luke 8, 14 says, quote, now the ones that fell among thorns is the parable of the seeds, are those who when they have heard, and talk about, you've heard about God's truths, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life and bring no fruit to maturity. So that's a temptation. Doesn't matter. We should appreciate what we have, but just don't leave God out of the picture.

Or this will eventually, the world will choke any spiritual growth you will have. Number two, so technology and science can be good if used the right way. But following God's way in this modern world is what's most important.

Not leaving God behind. Just one of the favorite movies I have is called Edison the Man. It shows all the discoveries he had. At the very end of the movie, he's speaking to an audience and he says, when I built this dynamo to light up New York area, I had to build this these two huge generators and they started up and one of them lost the synchronism because they needed both for the power.

And so it started smoking had to stop it. And then he realized, well, I have to put a rod that will synchronize both motors. And just before the moment when they had to turn the lights on and his historic moment for the world, he saw that. And then he said, and I remember that this is the same way as technology and humanity. And values, religious values, you have to have the rod so science doesn't get ahead of itself.

And you have to have both. We can enjoy the technology, but not leave God out of the picture. And so the third point, we know eventually the quote Las Vegas sinful style will lead to God to God intervening in the world and bringing his kingdom of peace, joy and righteousness. Let's all look to that coming kingdom that is much better than the Minoans or Philistines ever had and pray your kingdom come.