Caphtor (rsv)/ Crete.
Most translations use the Hebrew name, but the meaning is probably Crete (see
also mft), and that is what the
translator should use. (Jan de Waard and William Allen Smalley, A
Translator’s Handbook on the Book of Amos [UBS Handbook Series; Stuttgart:
United Bible Societies, 1979], 180)
The origin of the Philistines, a group of historically powerful,
so-called “sea peoples,” who conquered large parts of Palestine in the second
half of the second millennium b.c.e.,
and who among other things put an end to the high empire of the Hittites, is
presented as being in the western Aegean (Caphtor is probably Crete) (Jörg
Jeremias, The Book of Amos: A Commentary [trans. Douglas W. Stott; The Old
Testament Library; Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998], 163)
In the second question the Exodus from Egypt is listed along with the
migration of the Philistines and Arameans, and therefore put on the same
footing. The reference is a clue to Amos’ surprisingly full knowledge of the
general historical traditions of the region, even more striking than the
material used in the oracles against the nations (1:3–2:3). The migrations of
the Philistines from the Aegean area (Caphtor = Crete) and of the Arameans from
Kir (a Mesopotamian locale; cf. 1:5) had occurred early in the twelfth century,
not long after Israel was settled in the hill country of Palestine. The
Philistines and Arameans had been the classic foes of Israel; and yet their
history, says Yahweh, was none the less his work than the Israelites’ move from
Egypt. (James Luther Mays, Amos: A Commentary [The Old
Testament Library; Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1969], 157-58)
Yahweh had led the Philistines out of “Caphtor.” Where is Caphtor to
be located? Following G
(“Cappadocia”), and on the basis of linguistic and archaological evidence from
the second millennium, some have recently sought to locate Caphtor on the
southern coast of Asia Minor. But it appears that, in the first half of the
first millennium, Israel identified Caphtor with Crete. Thus Caphtor is called
an island in Jer 47:4; the Philistines are called Cretans in Zeph 2:5 and Ezek
25:16, and in 1 Sam 30:14 the area of Palestine where they settled is called
the “Negeb of the Cretans.” (Hans Walter Wolff, Joel and Amos: A
Commentary on the Books of the Prophets Joel and Mos [Hermeneia—a Critical
and Historical Commentary on the Bible; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977],
347-48)
A problem associated with Caphtor is its identity. Its traditional
identification with Crete (Vercoutter 1956) has been challenged with the
proposal of Cyprus (Strange 1980; Merrillees 1982). The issue has been
addressed in three areas: archaeology, philology, and geography. As to the
archaeology, the absence of Cretan ceramic wares after the mid-15th century b.c.
in Egypt and Ugarit, despite the presence of textual citations for
Caphtor/Keftiu until the mid-14th century in Egypt and the mid-13th century at
Ugarit, has been used to argue against Crete as an identification (Merrillees
1982: 247–48). However, a similar argument could be made for the Cypriote ware
in Egypt (exclusive of Amarna) at the same time (Knapp 1983: 285–86; 1985).
Further, the textual and pictorial evidence in the chapel of Rekhmire is
closely tied together (Vercoutter 1956: 185–88) so that attempts to separate
the Keftiu from “the isles in the midst of the sea” and from the Minoan dress
worn by the figures (Strange 1980: 44–70) seem strained (Görg 1982; Kitchen
1983). (Richard S. Hess, “Caphtor (Person),” in The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, ed.
David Noel Freedman, 6 vols. [New York: Doubleday, 1992],1: 869)
Caphtor (kafʹtohr), a place referred to by Amos
(9:7) as the home of the Philistines who are called the ‘remnant of the
coastland of Caphtor’ (Jer. 47:4) and ‘the Caphtorim’ (Deut. 2:23). Scholars
have offered various suggestions for its location. The most widely accepted is
the Aegean island of Crete; some Philistine names suggest an origin in the
Aegean basin. Other scholars see a connection between Caphtor and Kafto, an
Egyptian designation for the southern coast of Asia Minor and propose Cilicia
on the southeast coast as the location. The Septuagint translates Caphtor as
Cappadocia, a region in Asia Minor, although this probably is not correct.
(Dennis R. Bratcher, “Caphtor,” in Harper’s Bible Dictionary, ed.
Paul J. Achtemeier [San
Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985], 155)
. . . the cultures of ancient Palestine and Israel were impacted by
commodities from Cyprus. John Strange argued persuasively that “Caphtor,” found
in Amos 9:7 means “Cyprus” and dates the immigration of Cypriots or Philistines
to Canaan about 1300 or 1200 BCE. This date is not distant from the immigration
of Joshua and the Hebrews from the east or Jordan Valley. (James
H. Charlesworth, “Is Cyprus a Neglected Dimension of Biblical Research and Are
Borders Barriers?,” in Cyprus Within the Biblical World: Are Borders
Barriers?, ed. James H. Charlesworth and Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski [Jewish
and Christian Context and Related Studies 32; London: T&T Clark, 2021], 5)
