AUTHORITIES CONSULTED
A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, etc., 1891.
Alford's Greek Testament, vol. ii, 1861.
Apocrypha, revised version of, 1895.
Bædeker's Palestine and Syria, 1906.
Baring-Gould, Rev. S., Lives of the Saints.
Bell's The Saints of Christian Art ("The Great Hermits"), 1902.
Bible Educator, The, vols. i and iii (no date).
Bible, Holy, The.
Bright's The Age of the Fathers, 2 vols., 1903.
Cambridge Companion to the Bible, 1905.
Conder's Syrian Stone Lore, 1886.
Conder's Tent Work in Palestine, vol. ii, 1878.
Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, vol. i, 1875.
Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. x (ninth edition), 1879.
Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, 1851.
Flinders Petrie's Egypt and Israel, 1911.
Geikie's The Holy Land and the Bible, vol. i, 1887.
Guy le Strange's Palestine under the Muslims, 1890.
Handbooks of the C.M.S. Missions. The Palestine Mission, 1910.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, 1904.
Head's Historia Numorum, 1887.
Hill's Life of Porphyry, 1913.
Josephus (Whiston's), edited by Dr. Margoliouth, 1906.
Jottings and Snapshots from Gaza, S. Palestine, Nos. 1-3, 1908-1910.
Madden's Coins of the Jews, 1881.
Meistermann's Fr. Barnabas' New Guide to the Holy Land, 1907.
Metaxakis on the Madaba Map, in Nea Sion, 1907.
Meyer's History of the City of Gaza, 1907.
Murray's Dictionary of Christian Biography, 1911.
Murray's Handbook of Syria and Palestine, Part I, 1868.
Neale's History of the Holy Eastern Church, Part I, 1850.
Neale's History of the Holy Eastern Church, "The Patriarchate of Alexandria," vol. i, 1847.
Neale's Lent Legends, 1905.
Neale's The Patriarchate of Antioch, 1883.
Oliphant's (Laurence) Haifa, or Life in Modern Palestine, 1887.
Porter's The History of Beirût, 1912.
Pusey's Commentary on the Minor Prophets, 1879.
Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund—various.
Robertson's History of the Christian Church, vol. i, 1854.
Robertson's Biblical Researches in Palestine, vol. ii, 1856.
Sayce's Patriarchal Palestine, 1912.
Schürer's History of the Jewish People in the time of Christ, vols. i, ii, 1898.
Smith's (George Adam) The Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 1902.
Stevenson's The Crusaders in the East, 1907.
Worsdworth's Greek Testament, "The Acts of the Apostles," 1860.
Wordsworth's The Ministry of Grace, 1901.
GAZA
CHAPTER I
(I) OLD TESTAMENT, (II) DEUTERO-CANONICAL BOOKS,
(III) NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES TO GAZA
There are twenty Old Testament allusions to Gaza; certainly one reference in the Deutero-Canonical books; and one more in the Acts of the Apostles.
1. Genesis x. 19.—The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza. Thus Gaza is among the earliest of the Canaanitish cities mentioned in Genesis. The reference in this early chapter, which transports us into the dim dawn of human history, is a presumption of its extreme antiquity, and like its distant neighbour Sidon suggests its being among the most ancient cities of the world. Even before Abraham left his fatherland Gaza stood on the southernmost border of Canaan. Its important strategic position on the frontier of Egypt has contributed to its long-continued existence.
Gaza, like Damascus, is mentioned both in the Book of Genesis, and in the Acts of the Apostles.
2. Joshua x. 41.—Joshua smote them from Kadeshbarnea even unto Gaza.
Gaza became celebrated as one of the five royal cities of the Philistines.
Politically, there were five principal centres: the cities of Ashdod, Gaza, Askelon, Gath, and Ekron (1 Sam. vi. 16, 17).
Unlike its neighbours Gath and Askelon, Gaza has survived the various changes of history. Ashdod is now the mud village of Esdûd. The modern name of Askelon is 'Askalân.[4] The site of Gath is uncertain. Ekron is identified with 'Akîr, near a station on the railway from Jaffa to Jerusalem.
3. Joshua xi. 22.—There were none of the Anakims left in the land of the children of Israel; only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there remained.
Joshua only partially subdued this remarkable people, who seem to have been akin to the Rephaim and other gigantic races alluded to in the Old Testament. It was not contemplated that, under any circumstances, the "dispossession" alluded to in Numb. xxxiii. 51-3, would be at once completed, as plainly intimated in Exodus xxiii. 29, 30.[5]
4. Joshua xv. 20 and 47.—This is the inheritance of the tribe of Judah ... Gaza with her towns and her villages.
Although the tribe of Judah, to whom the city fell, subdued it, yet they appear to have held it but a short time.[6]
5. Judges i. 18.—Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof.
This victory of Judah alone over the chief cities of Palestine is a proof that the subsequent oppression of Israel by the Philistines was due to the sins of Israel. The five lords of the Philistines not only regained possession of their own territory, but also increased in strength, and, at length, extended their jurisdiction in turn over the Israelites (Judges iii. 1-5).
"The Philistines appear to have come into the maritime plain of Syria either shortly before or shortly after Israel left Egypt."—G. A. Smith.
6. Judges vi. 3-5.—When Israel had sown, the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, ... and they encamped against them ... till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel.
A new apostasy, punished by the oppression of Midian, is here introduced. This invasion came from the south-east and extended over the whole land "unto Gaza" in the south-west.
7. Judges xvi. 1-4.—Then went Samson to Gaza.
8. Judges xvi. 21-31.—The Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza.
Gaza had been the scene of Samson's sin (verses 1 and 2). It is now made the scene of his punishment.
After forty years of oppression, Samson appeared as the champion and avenger of his people. The tragic close of his life has given Gaza an imperishable fame.
"Samson hath quit himself
Like Samson, and heroically has finished
A life heroic."—Milton.
The famous Dagon, or the "Fish-god," who had a temple at Gaza (Judges xvi. 21-5), was a national, and not merely a local god among the Philistines. During the Maccabean wars Jonathan destroyed the temple of Dagon at Azotus (1 Macc. x. 84). He was eminently the god of agriculture.
9. 1 Samuel vi. 17.—The golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the Lord ... for Gaza one.
During the "seven months" the sacred chest was, no doubt, located in each of the five Philistine cities, in the Dagon temple, which each of the cities possessed.
The god Dagon was worshipped at Gaza and Ashdod, and the goddess Derketo at Askelon. It has been assumed that the two divinities were akin. According to Lucian, Derketo was worshipped under the form of a woman with the body and tail of a fish, fish being sacred to her, and was probably identical with Atargatis, in 2 Macc. xii. 26. Hence Dagon was supposed to have been the male counterpart of Derketo. This view, however, Prof. Sayce now repudiates, preferring to regard Dagon as a purely agricultural deity.
10. 2 Kings xviii. 8.—Hezekiah smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof.
The entire land of Philistia was ravaged by the Judæan forces.
After continual wars under the Judges, with Saul (1 Sam. xiv. 52, xxxi. 1), and David (2 Sam. v. 17-25), the Philistines appear to have been subdued by the latter, and Gaza became the border of Solomon's kingdom "on this side of the river" (1 Kings iv. 21, 24). In verse 24 Azzah, or rather ‘Azza, is the more correct spelling of Gaza. There is a reference to Gaza under the name of Azzah in Deut. ii. 23, and 1 Chron. vii. 28 (R.V.). With this exception the R.V. adopts the reading Gaza.
In Joshua xv. 47 "the river of Egypt" (A.V.) refers to the desert stream, one mile wide, which still occasionally flows in the valley called El Arîsh, twelve hours' ride south of Gaza. Palm trees are abundant in the bed of this torrent. See Gen. xv. 18; Joshua xv. 4; 1 Kings viii. 65; Is. xxvii. 12.
11. 1 Chronicles vii. 28.—And their possessions were ... unto Gaza and the towns thereof.
The passage refers to Ephraim's habitations, but this is a doubtful reading. The Revised Version of the Old Testament reads Azza, in the margin Ayyah.
12. Jeremiah xxv. 17-20.—Then took I the cup at the Lord's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the Lord had sent me: to wit ... all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod.
The words describe the act of the prophet as in the ecstasy of vision. One by one the nations are made to drink of the cup of the wrath of Jehovah. Among them are four of the cities of the Philistines, including Gaza.
13. Jeremiah xlvii. 1.—The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
This passage probably refers to Pharaoh Necho II's (610-594 b.c.) first advance to Carchemish in 609 b.c. Having defeated and killed Josiah, King of Judah, at Megiddo, he advanced to the Euphrates, and on his return smote the city of Kadytis which is probably Gaza.
14. Jeremiah xlvii. 5.—Baldness is come upon Gaza.
The reference is to the destruction which Nebuchadrezzar inflicted upon the whole Syrian seaboard from Sidon to Gaza after Pharaoh Necho's defeat at Carchemish in 604 b.c. (Jeremiah xlvi. 2).
Gaza had to recognise the supremacy of Babylon. "Baldness" is the sign of mourning (Micah i. 16).
Destroyed again and again, its situation has always secured its being rebuilt.
15. Amos i. 6, 7.—Thus saith the Lord; for three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom: but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof.
The proceedings of Philistia against Judah are here represented by Gaza as the principal city. See 2 Chron. xxi. 16-17, which implies a veritable sack of Jerusalem. The extreme barbarity of which Judah complained was that her children were delivered up to her old implacable enemy, Edom.
16. Zephaniah ii. 4.—Gaza shall be forsaken ... and Ekron shall be rooted up.
There is a play on the meaning of these words, "Gaza (Azzah = strong) shall be forsaken (âzab)" and "Ekron (deep-rooting) shall be rooted up (âkar)," similar to that in Micah i. 10, et seq.
The chastisement of Philistia is prophesied in verses 4-7. "The fulfilment of the prophecy is not tied down to time" (Pusey, Minor Prophets).
17. Zechariah ix. 5.—Gaza shall see it, and be very sorrowful.... The king shall perish from Gaza.
Well might Gaza fear and tremble on hearing of the destruction of Tyre.
Gaza was taken by Alexander the Great after a siege of two months.[7] When he subdued it, he ordered all the men to be slaughtered without quarter, and carried away all the women and children into bondage, 332 b.c. New colonists settled within the city, which now ceased to be a Philistine centre, only to become a Greek one.
Gaza must have been at this time a city of great strength, for Alexander's Greek engineers acknowledged their inability to invent engines of sufficient power to batter its massive walls. Alexander himself was severely wounded in the shoulder during a sortie of this garrison.
Special mention is made by Hegasias (a contemporary of Alexander) of the "King" of Gaza being brought alive to Alexander after the captivity of the city. The name of the governor of the garrison at Gaza was Babemeses.
In Pusey's Commentary on the Minor Prophets—Amos i. 6, 7; Zephaniah ii. 4; Zechariah ix. 5, there is much additional information concerning the prophecies against Gaza.
Gaza is there described as first Canaanite; then Philistine; then, at least after Alexander, Edomite; after Alexander Jannæus, Greek; conquered by Abu-Bekr the first Khalif, it became Mohammedan; it was desolated in their civil wars until the crusaders rebuilt its fort; then again Mohammedan.
1. 1 Maccabees xi. 61, 62.—From whence he [Jonathan] went to Gaza, but they of Gaza shut him out; wherefore he laid siege unto it, and burned the suburbs thereof with fire, and spoiled them. Afterward, when they of Gaza made supplication unto Jonathan, he made peace with them, and took the sons of their chief men for hostages.
After the death of Alexander, the territory of Gaza became for two centuries the battlefield between the Egyptian, Syrian, and Jewish armies. Twice (315 and 306 b.c.) Antigonus took the city from Ptolemy I. The latter re-took it twice at the point of the sword, and for a century it remained under the power of Egypt.
The Syrians again devastated it in 198 B.C.
Jonathan Maccabeus (the wary), the Jewish leader and high priest (161-143 b.c.) laid siege to its suburbs, and forced the inhabitants to sue for terms (1 Macc. xi. 61, 62).
2. 1 Maccabees xiii. 43-8.—In those days Simon camped against Gaza,[8] and besieged it round about; he made also an engine of war, and set it by the city,[9] and battered a certain tower, and took it.
Simon the Maccabee, Ethnarch, and High Priest, 142-135 b.c., laid siege to the fortress of Gaza, and expelled the heathen inhabitants. Shortly afterwards he appointed his third son, John Hyrcanus I, as commander-in-chief of all his forces.
1. Acts viii. 26.—And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
There is only one New Testament reference to Gaza, and it has given rise to much controversy.
The pronoun αὕτη may either relate to ὁδὸν (way) or to Gaza. If the former, then it is the way which is desert; if the latter, it is the city. If we apply it to the city it is difficult to reconcile the statement with the facts of history; unless we regard the phrase "which is desert" as a parenthetic explanation of St. Luke's written soon after the destruction of Gaza by the Jews in a.d. 66.
Some refer ἔρημος to the ancient city destroyed by Alexander, and affirm that the new city occupied a different site.
The words αὕτη ἐστὶν ἔρημος, however, were probably intended to describe the Roman highway on which St. Philip the Evangelist should find the Eunuch. There were then, as now, several roads leading from Jerusalem to Gaza. Two traversed the rich plain of Philistia; but one ran to Eleutheropolis (Beit Jibrîn), and thence direct through an uninhabited waste to Gaza.
See Alford's Greek Testament on Acts viii. 26, and Wordsworth's Greek Testament on the same passage, which he thus explains: "Go by the road which leads to Gaza—which is desert; Almighty God has something for thee to do there. He can enable thee to do the work of an Evangelist, not only in the city of Samaria, but in the wilderness of Philistia."
Note on Acts viii. 38.—Deacons in the early Church, notwithstanding the precedent of St. Philip, were not usually allowed to baptise alone. Wordsworth's The Ministry of Grace, p. 161.