Exodus 13:17, “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:”
Most commentators will indicate that the Philistines were a warlike people and if the Hebrews were to pass through the Philistine territory they would have to face their first major battle and as such it would have discouraged them and caused them to return to Egypt. I am not sure the war that is referred to Exodus is a war between the Philistines and the Hebrews but one of the Hebrew and Philistines allied against Egypt. I find two possible problems with the idea of a war between the Hebrews and the Philistines. First, recent archaeological studies have revealed that the Philistines were not native to the land of Canaan; they were actually among the Sea People. These were people who fled from the region of the Aegean Sea either from Western Anatolia or Southern Europe and an area that is now Greece because of a great famine and came to the land of Canaan to settle. Another group of Sea People called the Hyksos went further East and actually conquered Egypt during the Middle Kingdom and were quite warlike. This was around the time of Joseph and most likely explains why the Pharaoh gave him such a high position when he was a Hebrew or a foreigner for the Pharaoh himself was a foreigner. Like Napoleon this new Pharaoh was a great warrior but horrible at running a government and like Napoleon he turned to the Hebrews who seemed to have a natural tendency for running a business, like a government. About the time of the Exodus many of these Sea People had fled from Egypt because the Egyptians had risen up against their conquerors and restored the government of Egypt to the Egyptian people. Hence you have the idea that there arose a new Pharaoh who knew not Joseph. Foreigners were not to be trusted but enslaved to keep them from taking over the Egyptian government.
There is an old Arabian proverb, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Egypt was both the enemy of the Philistines and the Hebrews so it is more than likely the Philistines seeing a swarm of Hebrew refugees approaching at this point and would have enticed them to form an alliance to try and take down the Egyptian government. It would not be until the Hebrews themselves started conquering the land of Canaan that the Philistines became bitter enemies with the Hebrews.
The second problem I have with the theory that God wanted to spare them from going into battle is that they went into battle anyways with the Amalekites at Rephedim and the Amalekites, unlike the Sea People were actually the brethren of the Hebrew people. So it seems if there was to be war it would be at least against the people who were not related to the Hebrews and besides God could have given them just as much of a sound victory over the Philistines as the Amalekite.
As I find the Christians answer as to why God would not allow them to pass through the land of the Philistines to be filled with a lot of historical and archaeological holes, I turned to Jewish Literature where I found the answer in the most obvious place. I made the old Christian mistake of going to the commentaries and the instruction of our Christian teachers before even going to the Word of God. In reading from the Midrash Rabbah, I was lead to research the words v’lo nacham Elohim, which practically all our modern translations render as “God did not lead.” Yet in researching this word nacham (lead, guide) in Jewish literature I found that this word has its origins in an Arabic word which means to sigh. Tracing this word through its Semitic root we find it has the idea of feeling compassion or pity. It also has the idea of freeing oneself from something that is displeasing, and to find comfort.
In other words, God would not allow the people of Israel to mingle with the Philistines as they would be enticed to return to Egypt and topple this Pharaoh who knew not Joseph and had enslaved them. There is another old saying, “The devil known is better than the angel not known.” For the Hebrew people they were generations removed from their home land in Canaan. For them their home was Egypt, they had no idea what type of land they were going to, but they knew Egypt and that was their home and to restore Egypt to a co-op rule with the Hyksos would sound pretty good to them. Hence we have the rendering given by the Jewish sages which is not that God did not lead them through the way of the Philistines, but He did not comfort them, release them from a displeasing situation. The people of Israel had a real problem, as evidenced by their murmurings, with the idea of traveling through a desert having to depend solely on God for food and water which was not as enticing as the possibility of forming an alliance with a powerful army and retaking their homeland for their own.
Is the reason why God did not lead the children of Israel through the land of the Philistines really that important? I think it might be as there is a real lesson for us. Many of us feel like God is bringing about a change in our lives. To arrive at that destination we have to wander through a wilderness and even then we have no idea what awaits us at the end of our travel through the wilderness. This wilderness wandering is wearing us out, we are becoming discouraged and we are finding that our journey to our promised land is becoming very displeasing. Suddenly, there comes the opportunity to return to our Egypt but not only to return but with victory in a much better Egypt. But we trudge along through our wilderness because God would not release us from our displeasing situation in this wilderness. When we have to step out in faith, depend upon God for our daily bread, protection and guidance through the wilderness, that old life we once had begins to look pretty good, especially when we knew where our next meal was at and it was not just crusty old manna but a pretty good variety.
I have known many Christians who grew so weary of the daily trials of their Christian walk, the constant waiting upon God that when the Philistines and their gods came along with an offer to return to the devil that was known, they chose to follow him rather than the angel that was not yet known. Discouragement is the enemy’s secret weapon and he may whisper in your ear an offer you find hard to refuse. Only remember that God will not nacham you or release you from your displeasing journey through the wilderness until you have reached your destination. As the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:13 “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and pressing forth unto those things which are before,”
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