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.