The 'sea peoples' of the Canaanite coast — Israel's great enemy through the era of the Judges and the early kings (Samson and Delilah, the ark captured, Goliath and David, the death of Saul on Gilboa). They give their name to the whole land: 'Palestine' is 'Philistia.' In Genesis they meet the patriarchs as the people of Gerar under king Abimelech, who envy Isaac's wealth and stop up his father's wells (ch. 26). ⚠ This is one of the book's famous ANACHRONISMS: the Philistines as history knows them — an Aegean people — did not settle the coast until about 1200 BC, centuries after Abraham and Isaac. Most read 'Philistines' here as an editorial UPDATING of the place-name for later readers (the same modernizing seen at 'Dan,' 14:14, and 'Ur of the Chaldeans'); a few posit an earlier Aegean presence. Either way it is the kind of seam the authorship-and-date debate turns on (see the Genesis introduction).