We started our midweek ESRA hike early and soon reached our starting point near Kibbutz Kfar Menachem, which is located southwest of Jerusalem, between Ashdod and Bet Shemesh. It was a perfect February day; a light jacket or fleece sufficed until midday, when most of us stowed our top layers in our daypacks due to the hot sun.

The kibbutz was founded in 1935 as a moshav (agricultural cooperative) and named after Menashe Osishkin, a pioneer from Russia who worked diligently for the revival of the Hebrew language and Jewish settlement, in what was then part of the Ottoman Empire. Forced to flee in the Arab Revolt of 1936, the moshav’s founders rebuilt the settlement as part of the Tower and Stockade program: 57 prefabricated forts assembled overnight in the years 1936-1939, on high ground and in close proximity, to quickly establish Jewish settlement on the land. In 1939, a new group of pioneers, which included a nucleus of young Americans, successfully established the kibbutz. It was relocated to a nearby hill and was expanded after Israel’s War of Independence.

We quickly walked to the Haruvit (Carob) Forest, a large and popular park built by the Jewish National Fund. Among the parks 2,000 acres there are conifers, cypresses, Jerusalem pines and wide stretches of broad-leafed trees, such as the eucalyptus and the carob. Fruit trees grow alongside abandoned agricultural terraces and there are wild flowers in abundance. Had this been the weekend, the dirt road we were hiking on would have been full of cars, because the park has many family attractions for short walks and picnicking. In addition, there is a 75-acre “Warrior's Park" in the heart of the forest, built especially to accommodate the physically-challenged. From afar, we soon saw one of the highlights of the hike, a verdant hill that eventually loomed over us. It was Tel Tzavit, site of the remains of Gath, largest of the five Philistine city-states.

Who were the Philistines? They formed part of the great naval confederacy, the "Sea Peoples", who had wandered during the 12th century BCE from their homeland in southern Greece and the Aegean Islands to Canaan, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. One hypothesis for this mass exodus is that a great earthquake destroyed the civilizations of Crete and Santorini. The invading Philistines fought the Egyptians, the ruling power in the area, and were eventually repulsed by Rameses III. However, it is theorized that he was unable to dislodge them from their settlements in Canaan, where they built their city-states: Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Gaza on the seacoast, and Ekron and Gath inland. Canaan is name of the land into which the Hebrew tribes finally arrived after the Exodus. Its inhabitants were an assortment of indigenous peoples and others who had wandered into the area. “Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. Later the Canaanite clans scattered and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.” (Genesis 10:15-19)

Around the same time, Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan, which for them was the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey. Centuries later, the army of Israel’s first king, Saul, faced the Philistines in the Ayla Valley by Tel Tzavit, between the mountain strongholds of the opposing sides. Goliath, the Philistine giant, was slain and beheaded by the shepherd boy, David, and the Philistines fled the battleground. Soon after, Saul and his sons were killed by the Philistines and their bodies hung on the walls of Bet Shean. David became King Saul’s successor and Israel’s greatest monarch. “How have the mighty fallen, And the weapons of war perished!” (2 Samuel 1:27) “The Philistine soldiers were tall and clean-shaven. They wore breastplates and short kilts, and rode in chariots drawn by two horses. They carried small shields and fought with straight swords and spears. By contrast, the Israelites had no chariots, horses, or iron weapons. No wonder they quaked at the more advanced, highly educated forces of the Philistines.” “Champion-to-Champion (one-on-one) combat was unknown in Canaan at the time of Goliath’s challenge to Saul’s Armor. However, Greek (Aegean) mythology was filled with combat between champions/heroes. Thus, Goliath, a descendent of Aegean parents, and having grown up listening to the many Mycenaean myths, probably pictured himself as a Greek deity or champion - like Atlas, or Odysseus, or Hercules of later myth.” (www.touryoav.org.il) 


Since 1996, excavations at the site have revealed fascinating and unprecedented finds, including the earliest known siege system in the world, the earliest deciphered Philistine inscription, and extremely rich and well-preserved evidence of various cultures, peoples, and historical events, spanning some six millennia of occupation. (www.dig-gath.org) Excavations at the site will include finds from these civilizations: Canaanite/Philistine (Late Bronze); Israelite (Iron Age); Persian; Roman; Crusader; and Muslim. “Three of the five Philistine cities – Ashdod , Ashkelon and Gaza – were never entirely lost, because their names have remained almost unchanged until this day. The fourth, Ekron, has been located at Tel Miqneh (at nearby Kibbutz Revadim) and has yielded rich Philistine finds. Mighty Gath eluded scholars the longest. Its ancient name did not survive – it became known in Arabic as Tell es-Safi – “the pure mound” apparently because of its gleaming white chalk cliffs, an element the Crusaders also noticed when they called the fortress they built here Blanche Guarde (the white fortress), remains of which can still be seen.” For more about Tel Tzavit, see www.tourism.gov.il.

After descending from the tell, which is about 800 ft. above sea level, we continued through the countryside to the Luzit caves, located at Moshav Luzit. These were very large and beautiful bell-shaped caves.

Reuven, our excellent guide, explained how they were built into the soft, white limestone. The builders (most of the caves were built by Arabs during a relatively late period) would dig a hole in the chalky rock and lower themselves into it. From there, they would continue digging and enlarging the opening into what would become a large bell-shaped cave. Some of the caves retain the small opening at the top, while in others the ground has caved in and the opening is large. Wandering around the various caves, many of which open on to each other, was the perfect ending to our enjoyable 8-mile hike. Note Where the name “Palestine” came from: “The name Palestine refers to a region of the eastern Mediterranean coast from the sea to the Jordan Valley and from the southern Negev desert to the Galilee lake region in the north. The word itself derives from ‘Plesheth’, a name that appears frequently in the Bible and has come into English as ‘Philistine’. Plesheth was a general term meaning rolling or migratory. This referred to the Philistine's invasion and conquest of the coast from the sea.

The Philistines were not Arabs nor even Semites, they were most closely related to the Greeks originating from Asia Minor and Greek localities. They did not speak Arabic. They had no connection, ethnic, linguistic or historical with Arabia or Arabs. From the fifth century BCE, following the historian Herodotus, Greeks called the eastern coast of the Mediterranean ‘the Philistine Syria’ using the Greek language form of the name. In CE 135, after putting down the Bar Kochba revolt, the second major Jewish revolt against Rome, the Emperor Hadrian wanted to blot out the name of the Roman ‘Provincia Judaea’ and so renamed it ‘Provincia Syria Palaestina’, the Latin version of the Greek name and the first use of the name as an administrative unit. The name ‘Provincia Syria Palaestina’ was later shortened to Palaestina, from which the modern, anglicized ‘Palestine’ is derived. The name Palestine was revived after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and applied to the territory in this region that was placed under the British Mandate for Palestine.” (www.palestinefacts.org)

Steve Kramer is an expert in touring Israel and he also blogs for Travelujah. Order his new book at http://www.comteqpublishing.com/book_detail.php?19 People can learn, plan and share their Holy Land tour and travel experiences on Travelujah.