Message #176570

[Victoria Liss]

The Philistines pop up in some of the most dramatic tales of the Bible. Who can forget Samson tearing down the Philistine temple with his bare hands? Or the ultimate long-odds battle: young David versus the Philistine Goliath.

Macalister covers in some detail Philistine religion. The Philistines fit into an ancient Near Eastern polytheistic religious complex. They worshipped Canaanite deities such as Baal-zebub ('Lord of the Flies'), the high Goddess Astarte, and Dagon, a merman fish-god who was also a culture hero. When the Philistines stole the Ark of the Covenant, they reputedly stashed it in the temple of Dagon at Ashod.