Reference: GAZA OR AZZAH
American
Now Ghuzzeh, an ancient city in the southwest corner of Canaan, Ge 10:19, belonging to the Avim, De 2:23, and afterwards to the Philistines. Joshua assigned it to the tribe of Judah, but did not conquer it, Jos 10:41; 11:21-22; 13:3; 15:47. Judah seems to have held possession of it for a while; but in the time of the judges it was independent, and one of the five chief cities of the Philistines, Jg 1:18; 3:3; 13:1; 16. Samson carried away its gates, and afterwards perished under the ruins of its vast temple. The ark of God was there in the days of Eli, 1Sa 6. It yielded allegiance to David and Solomon, recovered its liberty in the reigns of Jotham and Ahaz, but was reconquered by Hezekiah, 2Ki 18:8. At subsequent periods it was occupied by Chaldeans, Persians, and Egyptians, Jer 47:1. About 96 B. C. the Jewish king Alexander Jannaeus captured and destroyed it. The Roman general Gabinius rebuilt it; and not long after the ascension of the Savior, a Christian church was planted there to struggle with the prevailing idolatry. In A. D. 634 it came under the Mohammedan yoke; and in the era of the Crusades had fallen into ruins. It was partially rebuilt and fortified, and is now a city of some 15,000 inhabitants. The few remains of the old city cover a large but low hill, two or three miles from the sea, once so strongly fortified as to withstand Alexander the Great for five months. The modern city lies more in the plain, which is exceedingly fertile, and abounds in gardens, date-trees, and olive-trees. There was a landing-place and "port" for ancient Gaza, but no harbor worthy of the name. It was often referred to by the prophets, Jer 25:20; 47:5; Am 1:6-7; Zep 2:4; Zec 9:5. The southern route form Jerusalem to Gaza, memorable in the history of the Ethiopian eunuch, is called "desert" in Ac 8:26, as passing through a region then destitute of villages.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar unto Gaza, as thou goest, unto Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
And the Avims who dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Gaza, the Caphtorims, who came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them and dwelt in their stead.)
And Joshua smote them from Kadeshbarnea even unto Gaza and all the country of Goshen even unto Gibeon.
Also at the same time Joshua came and cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel; Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities. There were none of the Anakims left in the land of the sons of Israel; only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there remained.
from the Nile, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted among the Canaanites; five cardinals of the Philistines; the Gazathites and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites, also the Avites;
Ashdod with her towns and her villages, Gaza with her towns and her villages, unto the river of Egypt and the great sea and the border thereof;
Also Judah took Gaza with its border and Askelon with its border and Ekron with its border.
namely, five cardinals of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites that dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.
And the sons of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza and the borders thereof, from the towers of the watchmen to the fenced city.
and to all the mingled people and to all the kings of the land of Uz and to all the kings of the land of the Philistines and to Ashkelon and to Gaza and to Ekron and to the remnant of Ashdod,
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Palestinians, before Pharaoh smote Gaza.
Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?
Thus hath the LORD said: For three transgressions of Gaza and for the fourth, I will not convert her because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom: but I will send a fire in the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof.
For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall spoil 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 hope shall be confounded; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
And the angel of the Lord spoke unto Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south unto the way that goes down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.