Caphtor and Caphtorim
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
- the people or country from which the Philistines came (Jer 47:4; Amos 9:7). The Philistines came from the Casluhim, while the Caphtorim and Casluhim, both descended from Mizraim son of Ham, evidently joined in colonizing Philistia. Jeremiah calls Caphtor an island, though the Hebrew word can also mean a maritime region and therefore does not by itself prove that identification. The source regards Crete as a probable meaning: two Egyptian tribes living there may have moved into Philistia after Greeks took the island from them. It also notes that all ancient biblical translations rendered Caphtor as Cappadocia, though the form Caphtorim remained unchanged in Genesis and Chronicles.