Genesis 10:14

Pathrusim. The Pathrusim were probably the inhabitants of Upper Egypt. In Isaiah 11:11 Pathros is listed between Cush (Nubia) and Mizraim (Egypt). The name Pathros is the Hebrew rendering of the Egyptian Pa-ta-res, written in Assyrian inscriptions Paturisi, and meaning “the southland.” Ezekiel 29:14 points to Pathros as the original homeland of the Egyptians. This agrees with their own ancient tradition that the first king Menes, the one who united the nation, came from the old upper Egyptian city of This.

Casluhim. Not yet identified. Whether they may have been the inhabitants of the area bordering on the Mediterranean west of Egypt is uncertain.

Philistim. Because Amos 9:7 declares that the Philistines came from Caphtor, most commentators think that the word “Caphtorim” should be placed before the phrase “out of whom came Philistim.” Inasmuch as Casluh and Caphtor were sons of the same father, some of the Philistine tribes may have originated from Casluh, others from his brother Caphtor. The Philistines who came into Palestine from Crete by way of Asia Minor and Syria may have had their original home in Northern Africa. As inhabitants of the coastal region of southern Palestine they played an important role in Hebrew history. The Philistines are mentioned frequently not only in the Bible but also in Egyptian records as Prst (probably pronounced Puresati). Egyptian reliefs picture their features, dress, and modes of traveling and fighting, thus supplementing information about them given in the Bible. They are also mentioned in cuneiform inscriptions under the name Palastu. The Greeks called the land of Philista Palaistine and applied that name to the whole country, which has been known ever since as Palestine (see Isaiah 14:29, where Peleshet is translated “Palestine”).

Caphtorim. This people is mentioned also in Deuteronomy 2:23, Jeremiah 47:4, and Amos 9:7. Egyptian inscriptions of the second millennium B.C. definitely apply the name Kefdu to the first inhabitants of Crete, and also in a wider sense to the coastland peoples of Asia Minor and Greece. This usage of Kefdu suggests Crete and migrations to surrounding coastal regions, which would include Syria and Palestine. The Philistines were remnants of these so-called “peoples of the sea.”