The Philistines as scapegoats: narratives and myths in the invention of ancient Israel and modern critical theory

Abstract

The Philistines have, for centuries, suffered under the weight of their relentlessly negative portrayal in the book of the Old Testament.From Goliath to Delilah, they have personified the intrinsically evil other in the burgeoning narrative myth of the nation of Israel. By applying the theories of contempor literary deconstruction, particularly in the work of Derrida and Freud, the philistines can be seen at the literary constructions as much as historical figures, destined to play out the role of narrative scapegoats in the inexorable biblical drive fro the sustenance of the myth of the existence of the Israelite nation.