What is…
Caphtor

Meaning: a chaplet

This is the name of the original capital of the Philistines (Deuteronomy 2:23; Jeremiah 47:4; Amos 9:7).

“Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to Me,
O children of Israel?” says the Lord.
“Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,
The Philistines from Caphtor,
And the Syrians from Kir? —Amos 9:7 NKJV

The name is found written in hieroglyphics in the temple of Kom Ombos in Upper Egypt. But the exact location of Caphtor is unknown, though it is supposed to be Crete, since the Philistines seem to be meant by the “Cherethites” in 1 Samuel 30:14 (see also 2 Samuel 8:18).

It may, however, have been a part of Egypt, the Caphtur in the north Delta, since the Caphtorim were of the same race as the Mizraite people (Genesis 10:14; 1 Chronicles 1:12).

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Article Version: July 12, 2019