In the search of origins of the Philistines mentioned so frequently in the Bible and now accurately lost in modern history, we have found them in Africa. Now, not knowing if this is part 1 or just another piece in the search for lost tribes mentioned in the greatest historical book ever written (The Bible). We feel this information is better to just get out now rather than accumulate along with our hundreds of posts like these historical ones we have accumulated over the years. All these works are then are a part of the process to get a wider understanding of the bigger picture in the cosmology and now lost geography of the true Biblical ancient world.
We will include Africa in our mapping of some of these ancient civilisations, a task modern historians do not seem to have the will to consider or even mention as a possibility in their research. Fear not, we know the importance of Africa in the ancient world. Now the most hardened average historian will pontificate that we (meaning they) already know the ancient world, what went down, who were who, its all been mapped out. Not so at all. The mapping of the ancient world has been done and chronicled without including the colour and culture of the African continent... Shame... Historians even say Egypt ruled the world, and draw the line in Northeastern Africa, in what is now an area stretched over sand and dryness. Egypt or Mizraim was much larger and went deep down into Central and East-Africa (land of Punt and further) in the ancient world. A time when the Sahara was not so big and dry, Egypt also went to the West and downwards into Africa. Thinking that we now know much of what went down in ancient times is the big barrier for many people or even historians reading articles on this blog. This barrier, often standing in front of well-educated people, is a stumbling block against reason when African history is further examined.
Now this search of ancient things certainly is a complicated puzzle to piece together, especially when all known history teaches one thing and the Scriptures teach another. Regardless of this we will give it a try in identifying some of these ancient Biblical civilisations and put them in context with Black Africans on the much overlooked African continent. We will not be trying, although they do try ever so hard, to fit all of ancient history into the now very limited historical areas of the Middle East. Just the notion of placing the Garden of Eden in the driest of deserts, a non tropical place, is just to far fetched for any working logical apparatus. The Ancient Hebrews where black people from the southernmost tip of Africa, let there be no doubt, and the Garden of Eden was to the East in that Area. We believe that the Philistines occupied parts of the Western Congo-Basin and even further down into towards South Africa and large parts of Mozambique, way way down there. Our fathers has indeed taught us lies! Lets dive deep into it !
We start with identifying the Philistines by what they worshipped and their traditions, as we know SoNiNi did not like the way they lived or their customs. Now speaking of customs, the western world is riddled with non/Biblical and pagan customs like Christmas trees and easter eggs. They are far away from being the true worship SoNiNi asks of us. And just like the Philistines who bowed down to their handmade idols, used masks and created dualities wherever they and the western world today went and made for themselves an image of god...
Judges 16,23 reads:
"23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand."
So do we know about a people that worships Dogon today? Well, we do. The Dogon are today regarded ethnic group that has always been found in the central African regions of West-Africa, like Mali and Burkina Faso. They speak Dogon languages, which is a language only closely related to the Niger-Congo Language family, and they are not closely related to any other language. Meaning the might have originated further down towards Central Africa.
The Dogon, which we feel there is strong evidence for being the ancient Philistines, are known for their religious traditions, masked dancing, wooden sculptures and architecture. Now a days they have made many modifications to their ancient beliefs making them as a people a major tourist attraction. And these aforementioned traits and characteristics are none which SoNiNi liked or preferred in a people, as Scripture shall reveal to us.
Over time the tribe of Dogon, like many tribes in Africa, moved around to places like further north away from their Philistine territory that went far down the West-African coast. If you read their oral histories they talk about their origin being from the East, being descendants of yet another people. But this we can only speculate. At one point, like many other African tribes at that time, they tried vehemently to escape Islam terror (book burners of anything other than their stories) which was very real in the ancient times. Mohammedans controlled most sea ports, yes including the South Cape, all around the continent of Africa for many years. Historians struggle to separate Dogon customs before Muslims came and had their say, so we wont include too many of them here. We do know that the Muslims raided the coasts of Africa for at least a thousand years.
Lets go back to history we can trust, which is 1. Samuel 5,15:
5 And the Philistines took the Ark of SoNiNi, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.
2 When the Philistines took the ark of SoNiNi, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
3 And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the Ark of SoNiNi. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.
4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the Ark of SoNiNi; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.
5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
The Philistines was immortalised in Scripture as ancient Israels great and terrible enemy, they were strangers in the Land of Canaan. Continuing in line with Scripture, we will look at Genesis 10,14, so see where the ancient people came from:
13 Egypt was the father of the: Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14 Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites. 15 Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, 16 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18 Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.
And Furthermore in Amos 9,7:
`...7 Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith SoNiNi. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?`
We see the ancient world geographical location of the Philistines. We put forth the notion that these places would have been territories on the SOUTH EAST African coast, how far down and spread out is hard to say. They, the Dogon people, were builders of the Philistine Pentapolis most likely up the Southeastern African coast, which included Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath and Gaza in the far south. Gaza is a place that still bears the name in Mozambique today, among the locals. This where the so-called five city states of the Philistines (Pentapolis) as described in Joshua 13,3:
2 “This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and Geshurites,3 from the Shihor River on the east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north, all of it counted as Canaanite though held by the five Philistine rulers in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron; the territory of the Avvites4 on the south; all the land of the Canaanites, from Arah of the Sidonians as far as Aphek and the border of the Amorites;5 the area of Byblos; and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal Gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo Hamath.
And furthermore in 1. Samuel 6,17-18:
17 These are the gold tumors the Philistines sent as a guilt offering to SoNiNi— one each for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. 18 And the number of the gold rats was according to the number of Philistine towns belonging to the five rulers—the fortified towns with their country villages. The large rock on which the Levites set the ark of SoNiNi is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.
In ancient Hebrew Pleshet was the name given to the Land of the Philistines.This was the costal region that stretched from Gaza in the South (todays south) and all the way up to Ashdod in the North. It is difficult to determine how far up the city of Ashdod was but close enough to Egypt it would have been perhaps as far up as Tanzania (pure speculation).
We see more descriptions in Genesis 21,32:
32 After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of SoNiNi na NiNi, the Eternal God. 34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time."
And the Philistine road described as a shortcut in Exodus 13,17:
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, SoNiNi did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”
1. Samuel 27,1:
27 But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”
In Joel 3,4-6 we see again Philistia and future descriptions of Judah and Jerusalem:
4 “Now what have you against me, Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done.5 For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures to your temples.[c]6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland.
There are several other places in Scripture were the Philistines are mentioned such as Judges 3,3; 10,6 & Judges 13,5 (talking about Samson):
"5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto SoNiNi from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines."
The Philistines were in the land of Canaan (as were the Canaanites and some others) long before Joshua and an army of Israelites cleansed it and claimed it as The Promised Land. The conflict between the Philistines (House of Dogon) and Bantu Israelites, was on from the very get go. From back when Moses sent his 12 scouts to survey the land before the Bantu Israelites entered there, they met the ruthless Philistines. Moses then led his people around these settlement in Kanaan to avoid conflict altogether.
Further back in the Exodus from Egypt, we see the promise made by SoNiNi that the Bantu Israelites would take Kanaan as their home (Exodus 23,27-28):
“I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will…drive the…Canaanites… out of your way…I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River”
Now the taking Kanaan required conquering Kanaans native tribes (which included the Philistines, who in fact was descendants of Noahs youngest son Ham that spread across this region somewhat above the Ancient Red Sea (Genesis 9, 18-19):
"18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.)19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth."
After Moses had sent his spies to look this is what they reported back with (Numbers 13,27-31):
27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”
Anak, as we see mentioned in Joshua 15,13, was a race of real life giants and would be the people the Israelites reported back on as being very much intimidating. And when the Bantu Israelites refused to enter Kanaan after these reports, SoNiNi decreed that they would wander aimlessly in the wilderness for 40 years as a result of the unwillingness to act further on His promise to them (Numbers 14,26-35). After the wanderings however they did enter and warred with the Philistines all through Judges, 1. Samuel, 2. Kings & 2. Chronicles. From the time of Abraham to King Hezekiah there were conflicts that kept coming back in Israels attempt to usurp the Philistines in The Promised Land.When they came back, under the leadership of Joshua, SoNiNi protected them and let them win most battles and took over vast territories along the Southern African coast (Joshua Chapter 13-21).
Now noted all the battles with the Philistines were not successful, we find however about 7 large battles as mentioned in Scripture:
Battle of Aphek - 34,000 Bantu Hebrew soldiers lost their lives (1. Samuel 4)
Battle of Eben-Ezer - Won by the Hebrews (1. Samuel 7,1-14)
Battle Michmash - Saul nearly loses his son Johnathan, who did go on to be successful against the Philistine army (1. Samuel 14,31-46)
Battle of Mt Gilboa - King Sauls falls on his sword and dies after the Philistine army kills his 3 sons (1. Samuel 14,31-46)
Battle of Shephelah - Hezekiahs father King Ahaz (2. Kings 16,1-4) fails and gets a bad run (2. Kings 17,20 & 1. Samuel 6,19). The Philistines returned the Ark of the Covenant to Ahaz because of the disaster it brought them (1. Samuel 5,11)
Now there were other encounters as well, Such as David and Goliath and when Hezekiah defeated the Philistines (2. Kings 18,5-8). It was David and Samson both that had the most encounters with the Philistines. Lets look at them.
Now in talking about the Philistines you have to mention Samson, an individual we will do a separate post on altogether in the future. He was by all accounts a very sturdy man who lost all this sturdiness when being beguiled by Delilah, did lead the Bantus into slavery. Delilah found out that the source of the Samsons unbeatable strength lay in his hair - his seven locks of righteous hair to be precise, which Delilah cut off and he became weak. The Philistines then captured Samson and gave Delilah 1100 shekels, which was the equivalent to 3 years wages back then (Judges 16,4-5 ; 15,21).
Towards the end of his life SoNiNi gave him back his strength, when he cried out to his Father for renewed strength from his lowly position as a slave grinding grain for the Philistines. They kept him around their temples as a clown or entertainment, but when Samsons strength came back to him he knocked down the supporting pillars. The whole thing collapsed killing many Philistines, and his last prayer was recorded in Joshua 16,25-30:
“Let me die with the Philistines!"
Glorious story is it not ! Moving on to David and how he dealt with Goliath in 1. Samuel 17, it is by now legend with the little guy taking on the big man. And Goliath must have been on the larger side. The Hebrews and Philistines had gathered in a valley (1. Samuel 17,4-7):
"A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze…and a bronze javelin was slung on his back."
The Hebrew used the measurements of cubits and spans, Goliath was said to be six cubits and one span, we dont know how much or high that translates to in our time. We can only speculate within reason, needless to say it could have been plenty more than 9 feet tall. If you compare other giants and verses of giants in those days, it would have been like men next to grasshoppers.
In the setting in the valley Goliath challenged any man to fight him, and promised they (the Philistines) would become subjects to whomever beat him. None replying to the challenge, Saul and his army were dismayed and terrified. Saul on the other hand left his brothers and headed Goliaths challenge, given for the 40th day in the row AND hears about Sauls promise of his daughters hand in marriage with taxation cuts for the family of the slayer. His belief in SoNiNis leads David to utter the famous words (1. Samuel 17,26):
“Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of The Living One?”
Now Saul was reluctant at the thought of a mere boy fighting the Giant Goliath. But when David quoted things like this (1. Samuel 17,37):
“SoNiNi who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine”
Its hard to say no. David went on to quote to Goliaths face (1. Samuel 17,45):
“You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of SoNiNi Almighty, the Ancient One of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”
David brings Goliath down from the first shot from his slingshot (like the Zulu one on the right) and a chosen arsenal of five smooth stones. As the Giant hits the ground, the Philistine army flees in pursuit of the Israelite army hot on their trail. Then David cuts of the giants head with Goliaths sword (meaning Goliath was not that big perhaps) and brings his head to Jerusalem (Not yet the Capitol at this point). Now Saul starts asking who is this boy and he knows soon that he is the son of Jesse, and like Samuel prophesied that David would rule as King after Saul (1. Samuel 17, 51:58)
Philistine worship
Now, to get back on track - who or what did the Philistines worship? The reason they was disliked so distinctly, can be found in their duality teachings, much like today it was central to their beliefs This is because it is in starch contrast to what SoNiNi teaches in the Scriptures, which above all is focused on learning about Him and following Him with your whole heart and mind.
The Philistines however worshipped Dogon (Baal) a universal god of fertility. Baal was important to the farmers, known as the lord of the earth, lord of rain and dew. The Philistines also worshipped Astarte (which they got from Egypt?) the Queen of Heaven and goddess of war and sexual love, this deity was also worshipped by the Kanaanites with burnt offerings and libations (Jeremiah 44,15-17). But the people of Dogon was known for worshipping Dogon (Dagon), the god of crops and the name itself meant gain and the inventor of the plow.
Now when the Hebrews became influenced by these beliefs from their neighbours, SoNiNi was outraged and spoke through Jeremiah the Prophet (Jeremiah 44,2-3):
“This is what SoNiNi na NiNi, the Almighty of Israel, says: You saw the great disaster I brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. Today they lie deserted and in ruins because of the evil they have done. They provoked me to anger by burning incense and by worshipping other gods that neither they nor you nor your fathers ever knew”
Now it is this worship of Philistine and Assyrian gods that was SoNiNis great pain regarding His people, and yet they would turn to these lesser gods at every turn. Much like today.
Further more we known from Scripture that Nebuchadnezzar II invaded Philistia and burned down the city of Ashkelon and took over the empire more or less, he then built it into his Babylonia, this resulted in a retreat of the Philistines (worshippers of Dogon) into West-Africa and the countries above. Now modern historians will tell you that they kinda `disappeared` from the historic record after that... How can you explain these worshippers of Dogon in West- and Central Africa? You cant, the narrative must change and when it changes allot will follow suit. Lets dive into some artefacts now quickly and make the Egyptian connection with the Dogon people and ancient Egypt, source of wisdom and sorrow.
Egyptian Artefacts in Zimbabwe
We will do a detailed study of this in the future, but If you went to any university and or stumbled across research on ancient Egypt, you would have heard about Flinders Petrie (1853-1942). Now we know, from research done by the likes of Petrie, that Egypt stretched far down into Central Africa and what is known today as Zimbabwe.
Take for instance the Valley Complex, were colonial ruler Carl Peters (1856-1918) collected ceramic ushabti (small Egyptian statues, little gods made of human hands) in 1905. further more Flinders Petrie examined the Valley complex and found a cartouche (a way of writing Egyptian Hieroglyps) that he dated to Tutmose III and said this tied the areas commercially, being a relic from a old old Egyptian station close to the gold mines of Punt or Ophir, or as it was first called in the Bible, Havilah.
Egyptian Knowledge and Far Away Stars
The word out today is the wisdom contained in the Dogon teachings as they somehow knew about the Hidden Star Sirius B (The Dog Star). Lets elaborate. After French anthropologists studied them in the 1930s found they had advanced astronomical knowledge, despite their primitive (according to Western thinking) lifestyle. The Dogon had, back in the day interactions with Egypt and might be where they picked up the Sirius Star knowledge, other beings/gods (Nommos) that came from the same star system as the Egyptian god Isis. As the story goes the star Sirius A can be seen with the human eye its companion Sirius B was not discovered until the 1950s yet the Dogon knew about its orbital period and even told these anthropologists that it existed before it was confirmed by modern stargazers and telescopes. Further more they claim a third star in the Sirius system is yet to be discovered. How did they know? Well, the question is, how did the Egyptians know?
Now the Dogon social views had different sects and compartments, one believing in one thing, another believing in another concept, like god was the creator Amma where you would offer boiled millet on an altar once a year. Not so bad really. But it gets strange, real fast. Like the ceremony Sigui, the most important one for the Philistines, and takes place every 60 years and can go on over several years. The Last ceremony started in 1967 and ended in 1973, the next ceremony is set to start in 2027.
The Sigui ceremony symbolises the death of the first ancestor (which will differ in the different kinds of sects like Lébé and Binou), and goes on to the moment when humans started using the spoken word (starch contrast to the Bible). This ceremony starts in these days in Youga Dogorou and moves from village to village during several months or years. All the men in the village wear masks and dance for extended periods of time. There are various customs here that are followed (secret societies and Olubaru), but the most important thing for the Dogon is the wearing of masks and the ritual of the Mother of Masks. A many meters long mask, held by hand and created especially for the Sigui festival.
Now there are several different sects as we alluded earlier, Binou, that uses totems for priests and for the villagers, crocodiles. Some live close to these animals and as the beliefs go the crocodiles will only harm you if you have done something wrong. Like in all animism and totemism various beliefs and restrictions reign over your mind, like you cannot eat your totem animal, so if its cattle you cannot eat cattle, use its leather or even see it die.
Then we have Lébe sect which focuses more on the ancestors, where Serou the first mortal man that was transformed into a snake. This is celebrated once a year and goes on over 3 days.
Another sect is the twin sect that said that a birth of twins was a sign of good luck stretching back to the first twins. Then is the Mono sect, which is an altar at the entry of every Dogon village, mostly kept by young unmarried men.
Going deeper into the Dogon mind, we see that males and females are born with both sexual components (Like the statue of Baphomet, bulls horns with male and female sexual organs). And this is where things get strange as it is the norm of today to skew even the simplest of truths, male and female. Dogons believed that the clitoris was male, while the foreskin was female. Its the duality with the Dogons that make them a very confusing people, and the man was endowed with a dual soul. They also practises circumcision as to enable both man and female to find their right identity.
Boys was cut at the age of 9 and 12, marking the end of their youth, preformed by the local blacksmith... And just like Nguni and many other Southern African customs (Xhosa and Zulu), the boys must stay in a hut separate from the rest of the village until the wounds are healed.
Paul writes about these Mosaic customs, and calls them mutilators of the flesh and to separate yourself from such customs and people (Phillippians 3,2):
"Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh."
For those that find these customs (and they certainly were Bantu customs from the Bible) in Leviticus and decide to start to practise them, this is not the way. Now these customs have been passed down for generations and is always followed for worshippers of Dogon. And for the Dogon people, once the boy is circumcised he transitions into young adulthood and moves out of his fathers house. All the men must live together in a dune until they are married.
For the women the Dogon practice female genital mutilation, a type 1 circumcision which means having your clitoris removed... It should be mentioned that Dogon is very much influenced by Islamic practises with an organised patrilineal system.
Cultural beliefs
If you look the the writings off anthropologist Marcel Griaule (1898-1956) he was taught much of the Dogon customs by the blind elder Ogotemméli. Griaule lived with the Dogon for 15 years before he could even meet with the revered blind elder Ogotemmél. All the the elder had learned had been taught him by his father and grandfather through oral instructions over 20 odd years. Before the French colonised these parts of Africa, they still were practising their beliefs and religion when Griaule and Germain Dieterlen (1903-1999) was making their observations. According to them the Dogon had their own systems of reading the heavens, astronomy, Moon based calendar (like the Hebrews), extensive astronomical and physiological knowledge, and their own knowledge on pharmaceuticals. The Dogon peoples religious features can be found in many other traditional African religions.
There are many other details of the Dogon people of Philistia that has been past down and told by the elder Ogotemmél, like the Nummo the amphibian serpent people that changed their colours (also known as water spirits), symbols in nature and mothergod worship, the duality of god, dual souls and the intense focus on twins and astronomical mythologies. Their cosmogony literally never ends in their search for duality.
Now bearing all this information in mind, it is rather strange that from the Word (or people rather) Philistines, there has arisen other words such as Philistineism - which denotes a people who does not appreciate art, beauty, spirituality and intellect. A broad stroke meant to describe narrow/minded people with a less appreciation for aesthetics. Which is not true at all, the Philistines was very much intellectuals, with intricate art and their complete deviation from SoniNi in inventing their own world views and traditions. Much like religious people today, inventing as they go along what and who SoNiNi really is. then you end up like a Scripture worshiping creation rather than the creator. With an intense focus on all things dual and the duality of god. When in fact all you need to mention to anyone who makes you doubt who your Father is, is stated in Deuteronomy 6,4:
"Hear oh Isreal, SoNiNi na NiNi is One."
And remember to all that doubt this statement made, trying to separate us from this Oneness we all crave and can have with the Father, all that want to defer you from the truth, tell them like Malachi told them (Malachi 3,6):
"6 For I am SoNiNi, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed."