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CAPHTOR

(Heb. kaptôr)

The seventh “child” of Mizraim (Egypt) (Gen. 10:13-14 = 1 Chr. 1:11-12). Deut. 2:23 reports that the Caphtorim displaced the Avvim along the Palestinian coast as far as Gaza. Caphtor is, according to Jer. 47:4; Amos 9:7, the place of origin of the Philistines. The parenthetical note in Gen. 10:14, however, indicates that the Casluhim, not the Caphtorim, are the ancestors of the Philistines, but many scholars suggest that the note be transposed to the end of the verse.

The name Caphtor is traditionally associated with the island of Crete. Texts from Mari and Ugarit mention a place called Kaptara, described as beyond the Upper Sea and within the sphere of influence of Sargon of Akkad. Egyptian documents frequently mention a place called Keftíu; since Egypt had extensive commercial relations with Crete after 2200 b.c.e., identifying Keftíu with Crete would account for the many references. Caphtor has also been identified with coastal areas of Asia Minor or Syria. (The LXX translates Caphtor as Cappadocia in Amos 9:7.) Crete, however, seems to be the most probable location.

Little archaeological or literary connections can be made between the Philistines and Crete/Caphtor. The Philistines may have “stopped over” in Caphtor in their journeys from some other homeland, or Caphtor may have become, by the 2nd millennium, a name for the entire Aegean area.

Bibliography. Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia, 1979); G. A. Rendsburg, “Gen 10:13-14: An Authentic Hebrew Tradition Concerning the Origin of the Philistines,” JNSL 13 (1987): 89-96.

Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

CAPHTOR

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)