The Jews and the Philistines

When the Egyptians took over Israel during their New Kingdom, about 1500 BC, the Jews who were living there must have learned a lot about a more advanced culture than theirs. We don't know much about Israel during this time, but according to the Bible, the Jews before this time were mainly shepherds like Abraham or Joseph or Moses.

But when the Egyptian New Kingdom collapsed, about 1200 BC, the Egyptians lost control of Israel, and the Jews found themselves politically independent again. They seem to have been very happy to get free again, as we see in the Bible stories of Moses and Joshua.

But even though they were free now, the Jews had still learned a lot from the Egyptians. More of them were farmers now instead of shepherds. And they were used to kings, and armies. Pretty soon, they picked kings of their own: King Saul and then King David. And they organized armies of their own to fight the Canaanites (basically the Phoenicians) and the Philistines.

To find out more about the early history of the Jews, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:

Bible Lands (Eyewitness guides) by Jonathan N Tubb (1991). With the British Museum -accurate and fair. For kids.

Ancient Israelites and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide, by Marian Broida and Scott Noegel (2003). Activities for kids, covering Philistines and Phoenicians as well as Israelites. The book tends to mix fact and story, not making it clear what we know from archaeology and history, and what comes from the Bible.

Archaeology of the Land of the Bible: 10,000-586 B.C.E., by Amihai Mazar (1992).

Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture, by William H. Stiebing (2002). Expensive, and hard to read, but it's a good up to date account.

Judah
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