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Text: Jeremiah 47
Would it be weird to think that Goliath looked more like Thor than a Middle-Eastern giant? Perhaps resembling a European Viking?
The Philistines migrated to Canaan centuries before Jeremiah’s day. Their last migration was from a place called Caphtor, a little before Abraham’s time, so 1800 B.C. See Jeremiah 47:4 (Amos 9:7) for the reference. Moses mentioned it all the way back in Deuteronomy 2:23. They were crusaders who displaced a Canaanite group known as the Avims centuries before Moses.
A notable discovery using DNA was published in “Piece by Piece: Exploring the Origins of the Philistines” by Daniel M. Master in the Spring 2022 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. The DNA from seven Philistine skeletons showed strong European characteristics. So these Philistines were more akin to ancient Vikings. They were advanced people capable of exporting their own culture to other parts of the world.
But the recorded history of the Philistine people stops abruptly with the Babylonian invasion under Nebuchadnezzar around 600 B.C.
Persistent hatred has affected the nation
- The Philistines hated that the Jews had possession of the land. They didn’t believe that was fair or right. So they were like the Edomites in hating the Jews and envying them for occupying the land.
- God is justified in destroying the nation for its old hatred of Israel and envy over their occupation of the land. See Ezekiel 25:15-17.
Everything you and I trust will eventually collapse
- Look at verse 4. God removes the support structure from Tyre and Sidon. The Philistines had come to trust the wealth of Tyrus and mutually hate the Jewish nation.
- The nation, as everyone and every nation, has an appointment with death
- You could say the appointment of the wicked is to die, but the time and place is not set. Nations are like this. Wisdom can preserve the state, but all life is subject to death, unfortunately.
- Jeremiah preached this before even Pharaoh Necho II attacked Gaza, but this isn’t about Egypt’s king. In fact, Egypt’s attack would only be the beginning of sorrow for the Philistine nation.
- The sword of the LORD is the Babylonian army.
- The LORD’s hidden work has led to confusion and unbelief. The unbeliever says I can’t see God, therefore the Bible is just man’s attempt at adding moral value to things that have simple materialistic explanations. Such as Babylon wins this war because they fight better. But too many things happen in life where the “odds are against you” but people come out on top.
- Solomon said, I saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. And that’s not a materialistic explanation.
Trust the LORD
- Zephaniah 2:1-7 – The Philistines were encouraged to seek the LORD because their trust will be destroyed in the near future.
