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).