Who Were the PHILISTINES? To get a better grasp of the depth of the colonial Orientalist deception concerning Palestine and the Old Testament, we will analyze herein certain passages from the First Book of Samuel containing an account that fully agrees with events mentioned in the records of the classical Arab chroniclers, notably al-Ṭabari, al-Ya„qūbi, and al-Masūdi. When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Eben-Ezer to Ashdod; then the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and placed it beside Dagon (1st Samuel 5:1,2). From the above passage, we learn that the Children of Israel, led by King David, came into confrontation with a pagan people known as the Philistines (the name appears as h-flstm in the silent Aramaic text, and ha-filistim in the articulated so-called “Hebrew” version; noting that the -im suffix is indicative of the plural). The confrontation took place on the slopes of a mountain that is given the compound name Eben-Ezer (or Eban-Ezer), where the Philistines were able to wrestle the Ark of the Covenant from the hands of the Israelites and move it to a place called Ashdod. The sacred artifact eventually made its way to a place called Dagon (the name appears as dgn in the original Aramaic scripture, before the Masoretic articulation of the text). We can say, with utmost certainty, that the territory of ancient Palestine has never known of places called Eben-Ezer, Ashdod, and Dagon, all in the same geographical vicinity. What we can say, however, is that the Arabian Peninsula, in ages long past, knew of a famous people called al-Fils, who were in fact a conglomeration of several pagan tribes, most prominent of which were the tribes of Bani Eezār and Ṭay‟. We also know that (by another coincidence) the territory of the Fils comprised a mountain so famous in Arabia, that its name went on to become legend: Jabal Abān. This majestic mountain, throughout history, became the setting of many bloody battles between the tribes that sought control of its green, fertile slopes. The mountain is mentioned in al-Hamadānis Description of Arabia, as well as in dozens of verses of old Arabian poetry. Famous poet Abu Tammām left us some unforgettable verses recounting the bloody battles that took place on Mount Abān, which is without the slightest doubt, the very same place mentioned in the Old Testament. In his famous book entitled Al-Anm (lit: The Idols), Arab Historian Ibn al-Kalbi (of the tribe of Kalb) mentions the tribe of Ṭay‟, and the idol they used to worship, called al-Fils. He describes al-Fils as being a red-colored, man-shaped oddity in the middle of a mountain, a veritable pagan idol to which they made their sacrifices and offerings. It is not known exactly when Ṭay migrated from Yemen. Some historians claim it was after the final collapse of the Marib dam, while other scholars think it may have been during an even earlier era. According to Islamic tradition, Ali bin abi-Ṭālib, supposedly the cousin of the prophet Muḥammad (P), led a contingent of 150 warriors to the tribal homes of Ṭay*, and destroyed their ancient idol, al-Fils. During the time that the Old Testament events took place, the ancestors of the tribe of Ṭay, among the many pagan tribes of Arabia, were still in their original homeland in the highlands of Yemen, where they had borne witness to the dawn of a monotheistic creed whose tenets were propagated all over the country by the ancient Israelites. It was hence natural that these tribes, who eventually took the name of their idol and became known as al-Fils, fell into conflict with the Children of Israel in a past age that is now beyond memory. These ancient wars were often referred to as Ayyām‟ul Arab (“Days / Chronicles of the Arabs”), in old poetry, where each battle was remembered as Yawm - followed by the name of the location where it took place. It is worth noting that the letter -t suffix which appears at the end of many proper nouns was also a characteristic of the old Yemeni dialects. For example, the Persians (al-Frs), were often referred to as al-Frst, while the name Quraysh is rendered as Qrsht. Even the entire central part of the country itself is referred to as Ymnt in some South Arabian inscriptions. This is clearly evident from an inscription that was found near the city of Zafār, on a bronze statue of the Ḥimyarite king Dhamār Ali Yahbur (late 3rd Century AD), proclaiming him as “King of Saba, Ḥaḍramawt, Raydān, and Yemnt”. Hence al-Fils and al-Filst are one and the same. ___________________________________________ * According to the Arabian sources, the tribe of Ṭay‟ can be traced back to a legendary figure by the name of Adād bin-Zayd, bin-Yashjub, bin-Asad, bin-Kahlān, bin-Qaḥṭān (the last is Biblical Joktan, legendary father of the Ḥaḍramawt tribes). ____________________________________________ But why did the Bible render the name of mount Aban (Eban) as Ebān-Ezer? The reason is because the mountain stood within the territorial rights of an ancient Yemeni tribe known as Āl-Eezār, whose descendants today identify themselves as al-Ayāzirah. The name Ezer actually begins with the letter (ayn) in the Aramaic text. The Ayāzirah have been living in the Dhamār province of Yemen for generations beyond count, in the very shadow of mount Abān, and not far from a river valley known as al-Rammah, whose name also appears, by “coincidence”, in the Old Testament. In his book Lisān al-Arab (lit: the Arabic Tongue), Ibn Manẓūr states the following concerning al-Rammah (9: 166,167): .... that mount Abān is near the valley of Rammah, one of the greatest river valleys in the Sarāt Mountains…al-Rammah is long, wide, and lies on the road that joins Dhamār to Ṣadah. Interestingly, the city of Dhamār, according to the legendary genealogical trees of Yemen, can be traced back to its founder, Shadad bin-Zarah, bin Ḥimyar al-Asghar. Going back to the Book of Samuel, we recall the passage in question: When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Eben-Ezer to Ashdod; then the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and placed it beside Dagon (1st Samuel 5:1,2). The above passage describes an event that happened on the slopes of mount Abān, in the Sarāt Country of ancient Arabia, during the wars that took place between the Israelites and the Filist tribes (Filistim), and eventually culminated in the confiscation of the Ark. These names: Eben, Ezer, Ashdod (Shadad), and Filistim, are names that are associated with the Dhamār province of Yemen, and have absolutely no connection to Palestine whatsoever. The claim that the Ashdod mentioned in the passage refers to the Palestinian port town by the same name, which lies on the Mediterranean coast, is yet another spectacular case of forgery perpetrated by the Orientalist imagination. As for the name Dagon, which appears in the same passage, we will analyze it in a later chapter, when we reveal to you the true home territory of the ancient Israelite tribe of Zebulun. DoA (page 203) talks about Mikhlāf Radā which, if you remember from our previous book, is the setting of Bir Shabbā (the very same Beer-Sheba of the Bible). Among the inhabitants of Radā is the clan of Bani Ḥārithe bin Kab, a branch of al- Eezer, who gave their name to Mount Abān. This makes perfect sense from a geographic point of view, as the ancient town of Radā lies not more than 10 kilometers from the border of the Dhamār province, where the mountain stands. Another passage in the Old Testament that gives us a clue as to the theater of the events is the following: In those days the Philistines mustered for war against Israel, and Israel went out to battle against them; they encamped at Eben-Ezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek (1 Samuel 4:1). The above passage mentions a place whose name appears in the original Aramaic text as aphq (with the letter q). The English and Latin translations rendered the name as Aphek. According to the passage, Mount Eban and Aphek were in the same geographical vicinity. By another coincidence, al-Hamadāni mentions a hillock called Apheeq, which also happens to be within the Dhamār province of Yemen. Descrition of Arabia (page 207), describes Apheeq as an area of fortified water canals. Poet Abu Duād al-Ayādi sang of this same place, and described it as being in a very treacherous terrain, difficult to navigate. The place that al-Hamadāni and the poet spoke of is identified today by the inhabitants of the Dhamār province as Khirbat Apheeq (meaning: the Ruins of Apheeq). It lies about 70 kilometers south of Ṣanā, in the territory of the tribe of Ans (the Enso of the Karnak Inscription), a region known to contain many caves and vestiges of ancient military enclosures (maḥāreeb). The name Apheeq is very easily found in any online index of the regions of Yemen, specifically the Dhamār province. Finally, the Book of Samuel tells us that King Davids original home, before his armies had taken the stronghold of Zion, was at Ramah. This was the place the Israelite king returned to after his campaign against the Filst. Then he (David) would come back to Ramah, for his home was there; he administered justice there to Israel, and built there an altar to the LORD (1 Samuel 7:17). The Ramah mentioned in the above passage is none other than Wādi al-Rammah of ancient Arabian folklore. The fact that the Old Testament mentions Eben-Ezer, Ramah and Aphek within the same geographical vicinity; while the Arabian sources speak of Mount Abān, Wādi al-Rammah, and Apheeq, as being locations within the Dhamār province, cannot be due to a mere coincidence. The big picture, dear reader is now very clear. The Philistines of the Old Testament were a conglomeration of ancient Arabian tribes who were named after their idol, the pagan god al-Fils (or Filst). During the time of King David (the 11th Century BC), these tribes were in their homeland of the Arabian Sarāt, where they fought many bloody battles against the Israelites and their allies on the slopes of Mount Abān, south of the Yemeni capital Ṣanā; the city that features in the Old Testament by its ancestral name Uzal. These tribes began to migrate, en masse, out of the Arabian Peninsula, following a road that many before them had taken, and that many after them would continue to take. The main catalyst for this migration were no doubt the Babylonian and Assyrian campaigns that had devastated Arabia in that bygone era, as we will see in our next book. Eventually, around 400 BC, the Filst established their presence in significant numbers in the Levant, in a small territory that was later named after them. When the Romans conquered the area, they named the territory in question Provincia Filistina. ________________________________________________________________________________________ Excerpt from source: ARABIA - The Untold Story Bk. 3 Israel And Sheba Chapter 1 (Part 3 of 5)
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 11:45:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015