Reference: Ekron
American
The most northern city of the Philistines, allotted to Judah by Jos 15:45, but afterwards given to Da 12:13, though it does not appear that the Jews ever peaceably possessed it. It is memorable for its connection with the captivity of the ark and its restoration to the Jews, 1Sa 5:10; 6:1-18. The fly-god was worshipped here, 2Ki 1:2. Its ruin was foretold, Am 1:8; Zep 2:4; Zec 9:5,7. Robinson found its site at the Moslem village Akir, some ten miles northeast of Ashdod. There are no ruins.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.
And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell us how we shall send it to its place. read more. And they said, If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but by all means return him a trespass offering: then you shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you. Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden tumors, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. Therefore you shall make images of your tumors, and images of your mice that mar the land; and you shall give glory unto the God of Israel: perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land. Why then do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had worked wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed? Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milk cows, on which there has come no yoke, and tie the cows to the cart, and bring their calves home from them: And take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which you return to him for a trespass offering, in a box by the side of it; and send it away, that it may go. And see, if it goes up by the way of its own land to Bethshemesh, then he has done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us: it was by chance that it happened to us. And the men did so; and took two milk cows, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: And they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart, and the box with the mice of gold and the images of their tumors. And the cows took the straight way to the road to Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh. And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they split the wood of the cart, and offered the cows a burnt offering unto the LORD. And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the box that was with it, in which the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD. And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day. And these are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one; And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities, and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel, on which they set down the ark of the LORD: which stone remains unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite.
And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.
But go you your way till the end: for you shall rest, and stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.
And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holds the scepter from Ashkelon, and I will turn my hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord GOD.
For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon shall be a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.
Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remains, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be like a leader in Judah, and Ekron like a Jebusite.
Easton
firm-rooted, the most northerly of the five towns belonging to the lords of the Philistines, about 11 miles north of Gath. It was assigned to Judah (Jos 13:3), and afterwards to Dan (Jos 19:43), but came again into the full possession of the Philistines (1Sa 5:10). It was the last place to which the Philistines carried the ark before they sent it back to Israel (1Sa 5:10; 6:1-8). There was here a noted sanctuary of Baal-zebub (2Ki 1:2-3,6,16). Now the small village Akir. It is mentioned on monuments in B.C. 702, when Sennacherib set free its king, imprisoned by Hezekiah in Jerusalem, according to the Assyrian record.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
From Sihor, which is east of Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazites, and the Ashdodites, the Ekronites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites:
Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.
Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.
And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell us how we shall send it to its place. read more. And they said, If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but by all means return him a trespass offering: then you shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you. Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden tumors, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. Therefore you shall make images of your tumors, and images of your mice that mar the land; and you shall give glory unto the God of Israel: perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land. Why then do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had worked wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed? Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milk cows, on which there has come no yoke, and tie the cows to the cart, and bring their calves home from them: And take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which you return to him for a trespass offering, in a box by the side of it; and send it away, that it may go.
And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease. But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it because there is not a God in Israel, that you go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?
And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, return unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus says the LORD, Is it because there is not a God in Israel, that you send to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? therefore you shall not come down from that bed on which you are gone up, but shall surely die.
And he said unto him, Thus says the LORD, Since you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? therefore you shall not come down off that bed on which you are gone up, but shall surely die.
Fausets
("the firm rooted".) Most northerly of the five Philistine lordship cities, farthest from the sea, to the right of the great road from Egypt northwards to Syria, in the shephelah (low country). A landmark of Judah on the northern boundary which ran thence to the sea at Jabneel (Jos 15:45-46; Jg 1:18). Afterward in Dan (Jos 19:43); but the Philistines permanently appropriated it (1Sa 5:10; 17:52; Jer 25:20). There the ark of the covenant was taken last before its return to Israel.
A shrine and oracle of Baalzebub was there, to which king Ahaziah applied for consultation in his sickness (2Ki 1:2,16). Zec 9:5, "Ekron for her expectation shall be ashamed": she had expected Tyre would withstand Alexander in his progress southward toward Egypt; but her expectation shall bear the shame of disappointment. Zep 2:4 plays on her name, 'Ekron tee'akeer," the firm-rooted one shall be rooted up." Now Akir, 3 miles E. of Yebna, N. of the wady Surar; a village consisting of 50 mud houses, with two well-built wells, is all that remains of the once leading Philistine city, fulfilling the prophecy that she should be rooted up.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Ekron, with its towns and its villages: From Ekron even unto the sea, all that lay near Ashdod, with their villages:
Also Judah took Gaza with its border, and Askelon with its border, and Ekron with its border.
Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.
And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until you come to the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath, and unto Ekron.
And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.
And he said unto him, Thus says the LORD, Since you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? therefore you shall not come down off that bed on which you are gone up, but shall surely die.
And all the foreign people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon shall be a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.
Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
Hastings
A city in the Philistine Pentapolis, not conquered by Joshua (Jos 13:3), but theoretically a border city of Judah (Jos 15:11) and Dan (Jos 19:43); said, in a passage which is probably an interpolation, to have been smitten by Judah (Jg 1:18). Hither the captured ark was brought from Ashdod (1Sa 5:10), and on its restoration the Philistine lords who had followed it to Beth-shemesh returned to Ekron (1Sa 6:16). Ekron was the border town of a territory that passed in the days of Samuel from the Philistines to Israel (1Sa 7:14), and it was the limit of the pursuit of the Philistines after the slaying of Goliath by David (1Sa 17:52). Its local numen was Baal-zebub, whose oracle Ahaziah consulted after his accident (2Ki 1:2). Like the other Philistine cities, it is made the subject of denunciation by Jeremiah, Amos, Zephaniah, and the anonymous prophet whose writing occupies Zec 9; 10; 11. This city is commonly identified with 'Akir, a village on the Philistine plain between Gezer and the sea, where there is now a Jewish colony. For the identification there is no basis, except the coincidence of name; there are no remains of antiquity whatever at 'Akir.
R. A. S. Macalister.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
From Sihor, which is east of Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazites, and the Ashdodites, the Ekronites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites:
And the border went out unto the side of Ekron northward: and the border went around to Shikkeron, and passed along to mount Baalah, and went out to Jabneel; and the end of the border was at the sea.
Also Judah took Gaza with its border, and Askelon with its border, and Ekron with its border.
Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.
And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.
And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and their territory did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until you come to the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath, and unto Ekron.
And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.
Morish
Ek'ron
The most northerly of the five cities of the Philistines. It fell to the lot of Judah, and then passed to Dan. It was taken by Judah, but the Philistines kept or gained possession. The ark of God was carried there from Ashdod, and from thence was returned to Israel. It was to Ekron that king Ahaziah sent to inquire of the god Baal-zebub if he should recover from his accident. 2Ki 1:2-3,16. The city is denounced in the prophets. Jos 15:11,45-46; 19:43; Jg 1:18; 1Sa 5:10; 6:16-17; 7:14; 17:52; Jer 25:20; Am 1:8; Zep 2:4; Zec 9:5,7. Identified with Akir, 31 52' N, 34 49' E.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And the border went out unto the side of Ekron northward: and the border went around to Shikkeron, and passed along to mount Baalah, and went out to Jabneel; and the end of the border was at the sea.
Ekron, with its towns and its villages: From Ekron even unto the sea, all that lay near Ashdod, with their villages:
Also Judah took Gaza with its border, and Askelon with its border, and Ekron with its border.
And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease. But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it because there is not a God in Israel, that you go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?
And he said unto him, Thus says the LORD, Since you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? therefore you shall not come down off that bed on which you are gone up, but shall surely die.
And all the foreign people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holds the scepter from Ashkelon, and I will turn my hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord GOD.
For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon shall be a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.
Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remains, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be like a leader in Judah, and Ekron like a Jebusite.
Smith
Ek'ron
(torn up by the roots; emigration), one of the five towns belonging to the lords of the Philistines, and the most northerly of the five.
Like the other Philistine cities its situation was in the lowlands. It fell to the lot of Judah.
Afterwards we find it mentioned among the cities of Dan.
Before the monarchy it was again in full possession of the Philistines.
Akir, the modern representative of Ekron, lies about five miles southwest of Ramleh. In the Apocrypha it appears as ACCARON. 1Macc 10:89 only.
See Accaron
See Verses Found in Dictionary
From Sihor, which is east of Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazites, and the Ashdodites, the Ekronites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites:
Ekron, with its towns and its villages: From Ekron even unto the sea, all that lay near Ashdod, with their villages:
Also Judah took Gaza with its border, and Askelon with its border, and Ekron with its border.
Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.