The Philistines and the Old Testament

"This book depicts the advanced civilization of the people of Philistia who were the gravest threat to the young nation of Israel .... No significant understanding of the early years of Israel's history can be had without a comprehension of the culture and civilization of the Philistines. The author more than adequately supplies this." - Alliance Witness. "A well-documented and illustrated summary of the discoveries at eleven ancient sites together with commentaries on the relevant biblical passages." - Christianity Today. "Hindson gives special attention to the origin and history of the Philistines and their religious practices and uses insights from archaeological data to clarify the details of many narratives involving the Philistines." - Baptist Standard. "... any serious student of the Bible will find that the effort required in reading this book is well repaid by the enrichment of his knowledge of this important biblical people." - Presbyterian Journal. - Back cover. A welcome addition to the Baker Studies in Biblical Archaeology is Edward E. Hindson's monograph on the Philistines. In concise fashion the author sketches the historical backgrounds and summarizes the archaeological data of the Philistines and discusses systematically eleven sites associated with them. His commentary on the Philistines in the books of the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, and I Samuel is quite illuminating. Numerous maps, illustrations, a detailed index, and an extensive bibliography makes this a valuable contribution. There are a number of errors and omissions, however, which lessen the value of the work. (As the author penned his preface in the fall of 1970, he may not have had access to the results of the 1970 archaeological season.) - Edwin M. Yamauchi, The Westminster Theological Journal. 1973;35(3):315.