4<\/strong>. For Gaza shall be forsaken<\/em> ] The connecting word for<\/em> appears to refer to the exhortation in Zep 2:3<\/em><\/span>: seek the Lord, it may be ye shall be hid, for many shall be overwhelmed. There is an assonance in the words “Gaza shall be forsaken” ( ‘azza ‘azba<\/em>) which cannot be reproduced. “Forsaken” is used probably as in Isa 6:12<\/span>; Isa 7:16<\/span>, in the sense of depopulated. There is a similar paronomasia in “Ekron shall be rooted up” ( ‘eron te‘r<\/em>), which the Greek is able partially to imitate, .<\/p>\n drive out Ashdod at the noon day<\/em> ] The expression at noon day<\/em> occurs again Jer 15:8<\/span> (Jer 6:4<\/span> is different) and stands in parallelism with suddenly<\/em> in the next clause. It is also curious that in Jer 15:8<\/span>, “a spoiler at noon day,” the term spoiler<\/em> ( shoded<\/em>) would form an assonance with Ashdod. The idea meant to be suggested by the phrase “at noon day” is not clear. The usual explanation, to the effect that, as the hot noon was the time when men rested in the East, an attack at such an hour would be unexpected, is rather puerile (1Ki 20:16<\/span>). The idea might rather be that Ashdod shall be stormed by sheer and open force. See Appendix<\/em>.<\/p>\n The Philistine towns are enumerated in their order from south to north. The first three lay near the coast, while Ekron was somewhat further inland.<\/p>\n 4 15<\/strong>. The judgment of the Day of the Lord upon the nations<\/p>\n The nations on whom the impending judgment shall fall are: (1) the Philistines ( Zep 2:4-7<\/em><\/span>); (2) Moab and Ammon ( Zep 2:8-15<\/em><\/span>); (3) Cush or the Ethiopians ( Zep 2:12<\/em><\/span>); and (4) Assyria ( Zep 2:13-15<\/em><\/span>). In relation to Judah the four nations named lay respectively west, east, south, and north. The passage appears to be written in the rhythm of the inah<\/em> or Elegy, though in some verses the rhythm is imperfect. Comp. Ezekiel 19<\/span>. Cambridge Bible<\/em>, and more fully, Budde in the Zeitsch. fr Alttest. Wissensch<\/em>., 1882, to whom is due the merit of discovering the true nature of the Elegiac rhythm.<\/p>\n For – <\/B>As a ground for repentance and perseverance, he goes through Pagan nations, upon whom Gods wrath should come. Jerome: As Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, after visions concerning Judah, turn to other nations round about, and according to the character of each, announce what shall come upon them, and dwell at length upon it, so doth this prophet, though more briefly And thus under five nations, who lay west, east, south and north, he includes all mankind on all sides, and, again, according to their respective characters toward Israel, as they are alien from, or hostile to the Church; the Philistines Zep 2:4-7<\/span>, as a near, malicious, infesting enemy; Moab and Ammon Isa 2:8-10<\/span>, people akin to her (as heretics) yet ever rejoicing at her troubles and sufferings; Etheopians Isa 5:12<\/span>, distant nations at peace with her, and which are, for the most part, spoken of as to be brought unto her; Assyria Isa. 13-15, as the great oppressive power of the world, and so upon it the full desolation rests.<\/P> In the first fulfillment, because Moab and Ammon aiding Nebuchadnezzar, (and all, in various ways wronging Gods people Isa 16:4<\/span>; Amo 1:13-15<\/span>; Amo 2:1-3<\/span>; Jer 48:27-30<\/span>, Jer 48:42<\/span>; Jer 49:1<\/span>; Eze 20:3<\/span>, Eze 20:6<\/span>, Eze 20:8<\/span>), trampled on His sanctuary, overthrew His temple and blasphemed the Lord, the prophecy is turned against them. So then, before the captivity came, while Josiah was yet king, and Jerusalem and the temple were, as yet, not overthrown, the prophecy is directed against those who mocked at them. Gaza shall be forsaken. Out of the five cities of the Philistines, the prophet pronounces woe upon the same four as Amos Amo 1:6-8<\/span> before, Jeremiah Jer 25:20<\/span> soon after, and Zechariah Zec 9:5-6<\/span> later. Gath, then, the fifth had probably remained with Judah since Uzziah 2Ch 26:6<\/span> and Hezekiah 2Ki 18:8<\/span>. In the sentence of the rest, regard is had (as is so frequent in the Old Testament) to the names of the places themselves, that, henceforth, the name of the place might suggest the thought of the doom pronounced upon it.<\/P> The names expressed boastfulness, and so, in the divine judgment, carried their own sentence with them, and this sentence is pronounced by a slight change in the word. Thus Azzah (Gaza,) strong shall be Azoobah, desolated; Ekron, deep-rooting , shall Teaker, be uprooted; the Cherethites (cutters off) shall become (Cheroth) diggings; Chebel, the band of the sea coast, shall be in another sense Chebel, an inheritance Zep 2:5<\/span>, Zep 2:7<\/span>, divided by line to the remnant of Judah; and Ashdod (the waster shall be taken in their might, not by craft, nor in the way of robbers, but driven forth violently and openly in the noon-day.<\/P> For Gaza shall be forsaken – <\/B>Some vicissitudes of these towns have been noted already . The fulfillment of the prophecy is not tied down to time; the one marked contrast is, that the old pagan enemies of Judah should be destroyed, the house of Judah should be restored, and should re-enter upon the possession of the land, promised to them of old. The Philistine towns had, it seems, nothing to fear from Babylon or Persia, to whom they remained faithful subjects. The Ashdodites (who probably, as the most important, stand for the whole ) combined with Sanballat, the Ammonites and the Arabians Neh 4:7<\/span>, to hinder the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Even an army was gathered, headed by Samaria Neh. 2<\/span>.<\/P> They gave themselves out as loyal, Jerusalem as rebellious Neh 2:19<\/span>; Neh 6:6<\/span>. The old sin remaining, Zechariah renewed the sentence by Zephaniah against the four cities Zech. 9<\/span>; a prophecy, which an unbeliever also has recognized as picturing the march of Alexander . : All the other cities of Palestine having submitted, Gaza alone resisted the conqueror for two or five months. It had come into the hands of the Persians in the expedition of Cambyses against Egypt . The Gazaeans having all perished fighting at their posts, Alexander sold the women and children, and re-populated the city from the neighborhood . Palestine lay between the two rival successors of Alexander, the Ptolemies and Seleucidae, and felt their wars .<\/P> Gaza fell through mischance into the hands of Ptolemy , 11 years after the death of Alexander , and soon after, was destroyed by Antiochus (198 b.c.), preserving its faith to Ptolemy as before to the Persians, in a way admired by a pagan historian. In the Maccabee wars, Judas Maccabaeus chiefly destroyed the idols of Ashdod, but also spoiled their cities (1 Macc. 5:68); Jonathan set it on fire, with its idol-temple, which was a sort of citadel to it (1 Macc. 10:84); Ascalon submitted to him (1 Macc. 10:86); Ekron with its borders were given to him by Alexander Balas (1 Macc. 10:89); he burned the suburbs of Gaza (1 Macc. 11:61); Simon took it, expelled its inhabitants, filled it with believing Jews and fortified it more strongly than before (1 Macc. 13:43-48); but, after a years siege, it was betrayed to Alexander Jannaeus, who killed its senate of 500 and razed the city to the ground .<\/P> Gabinius restored it and Ashdod . After Herods death, Ashdod was given to Salome ; Gaza, as being a Greek city , was detached from the realm of Archelaus and annexed to Syria. It was destroyed by the Jews in their revolt when Florus was procurator, 55 A.D . Ascalon and Gaza must still have been strong, and were probably a distinct population in the early times of Antipater, father of Herod, when Alexander and Alexandra set him over all Idumaea, since he is said then to have made friendship with the Arabs, Gazites and Ascalonites, likeminded with himself, and to have attached them by many and large presents.<\/P> Yet though the inhabitants were changed, the hereditary hatred remained. Philo in his Embassy to Caius, 40 a.d., used the strong language , The Ascalonites have an implacable and irreconcilable enmity to the Jews, their neighbors, who inhabit the holy land. This continued toward Christians. Some horrible atrocities, of almost inconceivable savagery, by these of Gaza and Ascalon 361 a.d., are related by Theodoret and Sozomen . : Who is ignorant of the madness of the Gazaeans? asks Gregory of Nazianzus, of the times of Julian. This was previous to the conversion of the great Gazite temple of Marna into a Christian Church by Eudoxia . On occasion of Constantines exemption of the Maiumas Gazae from their control, it is alleged, that they were extreme heathen. In the time of the Crusades the Ascalonites are described by Christians as their most savage enemies.<\/P> It may be, that a likeness of sin may have continued on a likeness of punishment. But the primary prediction was against the people, not against the walls. The sentence, Gaza shall be forsaken, would have been fulfilled by the removal or captivity of its inhabitants, even if they had not been replaced by others. A prediction against any ancient British town would have been fulfilled, if the Britons in it had been replaced or exterminated by Danes, and these by Saxons, and these subdued by the Normans, though their displacers became wealthy and powerful in their place. Even on the same site it would not be the same Gaza, when the Philistine Gaza became Edomite, and the Edomite Greek, and the Greek Arabian . Ashdod (as well as Gaza) is spoken of as a city of the Greeks ; New Gaza is spoken of as a mixture of Turks, Arabians, Fellahs, Bedouins out of Egypt, Syria, Petraea . Felix Faber says, there is a wonderful com-mixture of divers nations in it, Ethiopians, Arabs, Egyptians, Syrians, Indians and eastern Christians; no Latins . Its Jewish inhabitants fled from it in the time of Napoleon: now, with few exceptions it is inhabited by Arabs .<\/P> But these, Ghuzzeh, Eskalon, Akir, Sedud, are at most successors of the Philistine cities, of which there is no trace above the surface of the earth. It is common to speak of remnants of antiquity, as being or not being to be found in any of them; but this means, that, where these exist, there are remains of a Greek or Roman, not of a Philistine city.<\/P> Of the four cities, Akkaron, Ekron, (the firm-rooting) has not left a vestage. It is mentioned by name only, after the times of the Bible, by some who passed by it . There was a large village of Jews so called in the time of Eusebius and Jerome , between Azotus and Jamnia. Now a village of about 50 mud houses without a single remnant of antiquity except 2 large finely built wells bears the name of Akir. Jerome adds, Some think that Accaron is the tower of Strato, afterward called Caesarea. This was perhaps derived from misunderstanding his Jewish instructor . But it shows how entirely all knowledge of Ekron was then lost.<\/P> Ashdod – <\/B>Or Azotus which, at the time when Zephaniah prophesied, held out a twenty-nine years siege against Psammetichus, is replaced by a moderate sized village of mud houses, situated on the eastern declivity of a little flattish hill, entirely modern, not containing a vestige of antiquity. A beautiful sculptured sarcophagus with some fragments of small marble shafts, near the Khan on the southwest. belong of course to later times. The whole south side of the hill appears also, as if it had been once covered with buildings, the stones of which are now thrown together in the rude fences. Its Bishops are mentioned from the Council of Nice to 536 a.d. , and so probably continued until the Muslim devastation. It is not mentioned in the Talmud . Benjamin of Tudela calls it Palmis, and says, it is desolate, and there are no Jews in it . : Neither Ibn Haukal (Yacut), Edrisi, Abulfeda, nor William of Tyre mention it.<\/P> Ascalon and Gaza had each a port, Maiuma Gazae, Maiuma Ascalon; literally, a place on the sea (an Egyptian name ) belonging to Ascalon or Gaza. The name involves that Ascalon and Gaza themselves, the old Philistine towns, were not on the sea. They were, like Athens, built inland, perhaps (as has been conjectured) from fear of the raids of pirates, or of inroads from those who (like the Philistines themselves probably, or some tribe of them) might come from the sea. The port probably of both was built in much later times; the Egyptian name implies that they were built by Egyptians, after the time when its kings Necos and Apries, (Pharaoh-Necho and Pharaoh-Hophra, who took Gaza Jer 47:1<\/span>) made Egypt a naval power . This became a characteristic of these Philistine cities. They themselves lay more or less inland, and had a city connected with them of the same name, on the shore. Thus there was an , Azotus by the sea, and an Azotus Ispinus. There were two Iamniae, one inland. But Ashdod lay further from the sea than Gaza; Yamnia, (the Yabneel of Joshua Jos 15:11<\/span>, in Uzziahs time, Yabneh 2Ch 26:6<\/span>) further than Ashdod. The port of Yamnia was burned by Judas (2 Macc. 12:9).<\/P> The name, Maiumas, does not appear until Christian times, though the port of Gaza is mentioned by Strabo : to it, Alexander brought from Tyre the machines, with which he took Gaza itself . That port then must have been at some distance from Gaza. Each port became a town, large enough to have, in Christian times, a Bishop of its own. The Epistle of John of Jerusalem, inserted in the Acts of the Council of Constantinople, 536 a.d., written in the name of Palestine i., ii., and iii., is signed by a Bishop of Maiumen of Ascalon, as well as by a Bishop of Ascalon, as it is by a Bishop of Maiumas of Gaza as well as by a Bishop of Gaza. . Yabne, or Yamnia, was on a small eminence , 6 12 hours from the sea .<\/P> The Maiumas Gazae became the more known. To it, as being Christian, Constantine gave the right of citizenship, and called it Constantia from his son, making it a city independent of Gaza. Julian the Apostate gave to Gaza (which, though it had Bishops and Martyrs, had a pagan temple at the beginning of the 5th century) its former jurisdiction over it, and though about 20 furlongs off, it was called the maritime portion of Gaza . It had thenceforth the same municipal officers; but, as regards the Church alone, Sozomen adds, they still appear to be two cities; each has its own Bishop and clergy, and festivals and martyrs, and commemorations of those who had been their Bishops, and boundaries of the fields around, whereby the altars which belong to each Episcopate are parted. The provincial Synod decided against the desire of a Bishop of Gaza, in Sozomens time, who wished to bring the Clergy of the Maiumites under himself ruling that although deprived of their civil privileges by a pagan king, they should not be deprived of those of the Church.<\/P> In 400 a.d., then, the two cities were distinct, not joined or running into one another.<\/P> Jerome mentions it as Maiumas, the emporium of Gaza, 7 miles from the desert on the way to Egypt by the sea; Sozomen speaks of Gaza by the sea, which they also call Maiumas; Evagrius , that which they also call Maiumas, which is over against the city Gaza , a little city. Mark the deacon, 421 a.d., says , We sailed to the maritime portion of Gaza, which they call Maiumas, and Antoninus Martyr, about the close of the 6th century , we came from Ascalon to Mazomates, and came thence, after a mile, to Gaza – that magnificent and lovely city. This perhaps explains how an anonymous Geographer, enumerating the places from Egypt to Tyre, says so distinctly , after Rinocorura lies the new Gaza, being itself also a city; then the desert Gaza, (writing, we must suppose, after some of the destructions of Gaza); and Jerome could say equally positively ; The site of the ancient city scarce yields the traces of foundations; but the city now seen was built in another place in lieu of that which fell.<\/P> Keith, who in 1844 explored the spot, found widespread traces of some extinct city.<\/P> : At seven furlongs from the sea the manifold but minute remains of an ancient city are yet in many places to be found – Innumerable fragments of broken pottery, pieces of glass, (some beautifully stained) and of polished marble, lie thickly spread in every level and hollow, at a considerable elevation and various distances, on a space of several square miles. In fifty different places they profusely lie, in a level space far firmer than the surrounding sands, from small patches to more open spaces of twelve or twenty thousand square yards. The oblong sand-hill, greatly varied in its elevation and of an undulated surface, throughout which they recur, extends to the west and west-southwest. from the sea nearly to the environs of the modern Gaza. In attempts to cultivate the sand (in 1832) hewn stones were found, near the old port. Remains of an old wall reached to the sea. – Ten large fragments of wall were embedded in the sand. About 2 miles off are fragments of another wall. Four intermediate fountains still exist, nearly entire in a line along the coast, doubtless pertaining to the ancient port of Gaza. For a short distance inland, the debris is less frequent, as if marking the space between it and the ancient city, but it again becomes plentiful in every hollow. About half a mile from the sea we saw three pedestals of beautiful marble. Holes are still to be seen from which hewn stones had been taken.<\/P> On the other hand, since the old Ashkelon had, like Gaza, Jamnia, Ashdod, a sea-port town, belonging to it but distinct from itself, (the city itself lying distinct and inland), and since there is no space for two towns distinct from one another, within the circuit of the Ashkelon of the crusades, which is limited by the nature of the ground, there seems to be no choice but that the city of the crusades, and the present skeleton, should have been the Maiumas Ascalon, the sea-port. The change might the more readily take place, since the title port was often omitted. The new town obliterated the memory of the old, as Neapelis, Naples, on the shore, has taken place of the inland city (whatever its name was), or Utrecht, it is said, has displaced the old Roman town, the remains of which are three miles off at Vechten , or Sichem is called Neapolis, Nablous, which yet was 3 miles off (Jerome).<\/P> Erriha is, probably, at least the second representative of the ancient Jericho; the Jericho of the New Testament, built by Herod, not being the Jericho of the prophets. The Corcyra of Greek history gave its name to the island; it is replaced by a Corfu in a different but near locality, which equally gives its name to the island now. The name of Venetia migrated with the inhabitants of the province, who fled from Attila, some 23 miles, to a few of the islands on the coast, to become again the name of a great republic . In our own country, old Windsor is said to have been the residence of the Saxon monarchs; the present Windsor, was originally new Windsor: old Sarum was the Cathedral city, until the reign of Henry iii: but, as the old towns decayed, the new towns came to be called Windsor, Sarum, though not the towns which first had the name. What is now called Shoreham, not many years ago, was called new Shoreham, in distinction from the neighboring village .<\/P> William of Tyre describes Ashkelon as situated on the sea-shore, in the form of a semi-circle, whose chord or diameter lies on the sea-shore; but its circumference or arc on the land, looking east. The whole city lies as in a trench, all declining toward the sea, surrounded on all sides by raised mounds, on which are walls with numerous towers of solid masonry, the cement being harder than the stone, with walls of due thickness and of height proportionate; it is surmounted also with outer walls of the same solidity. He then describes its four gates, east-north-south toward Jerusalem, Gaza, Joppa, and the west, called the sea-gate, because by it the inhabitants have an egress to the sea.<\/P> A modern traveler, whose description of the ruins exactly agrees with this, says , the walls are built on a ridge of rocks that winds round the town in a semicircular direction and terminates at each end in the sea; the ground falls within the walls in the same manner, that it does without, so that no part of it could be seen from the outside of the walls. There is no bay nor shelter for shipping, but a small harbor advancing a little way into the town toward its eastern extremity seems to have been formed for the accommodation of such small craft as were used in the better days of the city. The harbor, moreover, was larger during the crusades, and enabled Ascalon to receive supplies of corn from Egypt and thereby to protract its siege. Sultan Bibars filled up the port and cast stones into the sea, 1270 a.d., and destroyed the remains of the fortifications, for fear that the Franks, after their treaty with the king of Tunis, should bring back their forces against Islamism and establish themselves there . Yet Abulfeda, who wrote a few years later, calls it one of the Syrian ports of Islam .<\/P> This city, so placed on the sea, and in which too the sea enters, cannot be the Ashkelon, which had a port, which was a town distinct from it. The Ascalon of the Philistines, which existed down into Christian times, must have been inland.<\/P> Benjamin of Tudela in the 12th century who had been on the spot, and who is an accurate eyewitness , says, From Ashdod are two parasangs to Ashkelonah ; this is new Ashkelon which Ezra the priest built on the sea-shore, and they at first called it Benibra . Jerome has another Benamerium, north of Zoar, now Nmairah. Tristram land of Moab p. 57.<\/P> A well in Ascalon is mentioned by Eusebius. There are many wells (named) in Scripture and are yet shewn in the country of Gerar, and at Ascalon. v. <\/SPAN><\/span> phrear<\/I>. William of Tyre says: It has no fountains, either within the compass of the walls, or near it; but it abounds in wells, both within and without, which supply palatable water, fit for drinking. For greater caution the inhabitants had built some cisterns within, to receive rain-water. Benj. of T. also says, There in the midst of the city is a well which they call Beer Ibrahim-al-khalil (the well of Abraham the friend (of God)) which he dug in the days of the Philistines. Keith mentions 20 fountains of excellent water opened up anew by Ibrahim Pasha. p. 274), and it is distant from the old Ashkelon, which is desolate, four parasangs. When the old Ashkelon perished, is unknown. If, as seems probable from some of the antiquities dug up, the Ashkelon, at which Herod was born and which he beautified, was the seaport town, commerce probably attracted to it gradually the inhabitants of the neighboring town of Ascalon, as the population of the Piraeus now exceeds that of Athens.<\/P> The present Ashkelon is a ghastly skeleton; all the frame-work of a city, but none there. The soil is good, but the peasants who cultivate it prefer living outside in a small village of mud-huts, exposed to winds and sand-storms, because they think that God has abandoned it, and that evil spirits (the Jan and the Ghul) dwell there .<\/P> Even the remains of antiquity, where they exist, belong to later times. A hundred men excavated in Ashkelon for 14 days in hopes of finding treasure there. They dug 18 feet below the surface, and fouud marble shafts, a Corinthian capital, a colossal statue with a Medusas head on its chest, a marble pavement and white-marble pedestal . The excavation reached no Philistine Ashkelon.<\/P> Broken pottery, pieces of glass, fragments of polished marble, of ancient columns, cornices etc. were the relics of a Greek Gaza.<\/P> Though then it is a superfluity of fulfillment, and what can be found belongs to a later city, still what can be seen has an impressive correspondence with the words Gaza is forsaken; for there are miles of fragments of some city connected with Gaza. The present Gaza occupies the southern half of a hill built with stone for the Moslem conquerors of Palestine. : Even the traces of its former existence, its vestiges of antiquity, are very rare; occasional columns of marble or gray granite, scattered in the streets and gardens, or used as thresholds at the gates and doors of houses, or laid upon the front of watering-troughs. One fine Corinthian capital of white marble lies inverted in the middle of the street. These belong then to times later than Alexander, since whose days the very site of Gaza must have changed its aspect.<\/P> Ashkelon shall be a desolation – <\/B>The site of the port of Ascalon was well chosen, strong, overhanging the sea, fenced from the land, stretching forth its arms toward the Mediterranean, as if to receive in its bosom the wealth of the sea, yet shunned by the poor hinds around it. It lies in such a living death, that it is one of the most mournful scenes of utter desolation which a traveler even in this land of ruins ever beheld. But this too cannot be the Philistine city. The sands which are pressing hard upon the solid walls of the city, held back by them for the time, yet threatening to overwhelm the spouse of Syria, and which accumulated in the plain below, must have buried the old Ashkelon, since in this land, where the old names so cling to the spot, there is no trace of it.<\/P> Ekron shall be uprooted – <\/B>And at Akir and Esdud celebrated at present, for its scorpions, the few stones, which remain, even of a later town, are but as gravestones to mark the burial place of departed greatness.<\/P> Jerome: In like way, all who glory in bodily strength and worldly power and say, By the strength of my hand I have done it, shall be left desolate and brought to nothing in the day of the Lords anger. And the waster, they who by evil words and deeds injure or destroy others and are an offence unto them, these shall be east out shamefully, into outer darkness, Rup.: when the saints shall receive the fullest brightness in the mid-day of the Sun of Righteousness. The judgment shall not be in darkness, save to them, but in mid-day, so that the justice of God shall be clearly seen, and darkness itself shall be turned into light, as was said to David, Thou didst this thing secretly, but I will do it before all Israel and before the sun 2Sa 12:12<\/span>; and our Lord, Whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the house-tops Luk 12:3<\/span>; and Paul, the Lord shall come, Who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart 1Co 4:5<\/span>. And they who by seducing words in life or in doctrine uprooted others, shall be themselves rooted up Mat 15:13<\/span>.<\/P> <\/p>\n Zep 2:4-7<\/span><\/p>\n For Gaza shall be forsaken.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The sinners baleful influence, and Gods disposal of all<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>With nations.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>With individuals.<\/p>\n This shows–<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> The social connection between man and man. No <\/strong>man can live unto himself. Each man is a link in the great chain of human life; and he cannot move without influencing others. Each man is a limb in the great human body; and if one suffers, all suffer.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> The duty of man to look well after his own conduct. A sinner has no right to say he will do what he likes, and that no one has a right to interfere with him.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Our place in the world. He has set bounds to our habitation that we cannot pass.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Our period in the world. My times are in Thy hand. We are often tempted to imagine that chance rules us. But amidst all this feeling of contingency and over all there is the ruling plan of the Beneficent God. (Homilist.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Verse 4. Gaza shall be forsaken<\/B><\/I>] This prophecy is against the Philistines<\/I>. They had been greatly harassed by the kings of Egypt; but were completely ruined by Nebuchadnezzar, who took all Phoenicia from the Egyptians; and about the time of his taking Tyre, devastated all the seignories of the Philistines. This ruin we have seen foretold by the other prophets, and have already remarked its exact fulfilment.<\/P> <\/p>\n For; <\/B>it is time to seek some refuge, high time to seek it in God, for your neighbours, as well as you, shall be destroyed, there shall he no refuge for you among your neighbours. <\/P> Gaza; <\/B>a chief city of the Philistines, very strong by its situation, and by art fortified; a frontier toward Egypt, and not full three miles from the sea. <\/P> Shall be forsaken; <\/B>when the conquering army of the Chaldeans shall come against it, shall be forsaken either by the flight or captivity of the inhabitants. <\/P> Ashkelon; <\/B>another of the strong cities of the Philistines, which fell to the tribe of Dan, and was a maritime town. <\/P> A desolation; <\/B>utterly wasted, so the abstract doth imply. <\/P> They; <\/B>Babylonians: see Eze 25:15-17<\/span>. <\/P> Shall drive<\/B> into captivity, cast them out of their own and force them into a strange land. Ashdod; a strong fortified city of Palestina, called in aftertimes Azotus. <\/P> At the noon-day; <\/B>it shall be taken by force at noon, or the citizens led away captive in the heat of the day, and under parching heats. <\/P> Ekron; <\/B>famous for its infamous idolatry, where Baalzebub was worshipped, the chief seat of devil-worship. <\/P> Shall be rooted up; <\/B>utterly extirpated, no more to spring up: see <\/P> Jer 47:4<\/span>,5<\/span>; it shall be as a tree pulled up by the roots; or maimed, as horses that are houghed, as Jos 11:9<\/span>. <\/P> <\/p>\n 4. For<\/B>He makes the punishmentawaiting the neighboring states an argument why the ungodly shouldrepent (Zep 2:1<\/span>) and the godlypersevere, namely, that so they may escape from the general calamity.<\/P> Gaza shall be forsaken<\/B>Inthe Hebrew<\/I> there is a play of similar sounds, Gaza Gazubah;<\/I>Gaza shall be forsaken, as its name implies. So the Hebrew<\/I> ofthe next clause, Ekron teeakeer.<\/I> <\/P> at the noonday<\/B>when onaccount of the heat Orientals usually sleep, and military operationsare suspended (2Sa 4:5<\/span>). Hencean attack at noon<\/I> implies one sudden and unexpected (Jer 6:4<\/span>;Jer 6:5<\/span>; Jer 15:8<\/span>).<\/P> Ekron<\/B>Four<\/I>cities of the Philistines are mentioned, whereas five<\/I> was thenormal number of their leading cities. Gath is omitted, being at thistime under the Jews’ dominion. David had subjugated it (1Ch18:1<\/span>). Under Joram the Philistines almost regained it (2Ch21:16<\/span>), but Uzziah (2Ch 26:6<\/span>)and Hezekiah (2Ki 18:8<\/span>) havingconquered them, it remained under the Jews. Amo 1:6<\/span>;Zec 9:5<\/span>; Zec 9:6<\/span>;Jer 25:20<\/span>, similarly mention onlyfour<\/I> cities of the Philistines.<\/P><\/p>\n For Gaza shall be forsaken<\/strong>,…. Therefore seek the Lord; and not to the Philistines, since they would be destroyed, to whom Gaza, and the other cities later mentioned, belonged; so Aben Ezra connects the words, suggesting that it would be in vain to flee thither for shelter, or seek for refuge there; though others think that this and what follows is subjoined, either to assure the Jews of their certain ruin, since this would be the case of the nations about them; or to alleviate their calamity, seeing their enemies would have no occasion to insult them, and triumph over them, they being, or quickly would be, in the like circumstances. Gaza was one of the five lordships of the Philistines; a strong and fortified place, as its name signifies; but should be demolished, stripped of its fortifications, and forsaken by its inhabitants. It was smitten by Pharaoh king of Egypt; and was laid waste by Nebuchadnezzar, Jer 47:1<\/span> and afterwards taken by Alexander the great; and, having gone through various changes, was in the times of the apostles called Gaza the desert, Ac 8:26<\/span>. There is a beautiful play on words in the words, not to be expressed in an English translation h. According to Strabo’s account i, the ancient city was about a mile from the haven, for which (he says) it was formerly very illustrious; but was demolished by Alexander, and remained a desert. And so Jerom k says, in his time, the place where the ancient city stood scarce afforded any traces of the foundations of it; for that which now is seen (adds he) was built in another place, instead of that which was destroyed: and which, he observes, accounts for the fulfilment of this prophecy: and so Monsieur Thevenot l says, the city of Gaza is about two miles from the sea; and was anciently very illustrious, as may be seen by its ruins; and yet, even this must be understood of new Gaza; so a Greek writer m, of an uncertain age, observes this distinction; and speaks of this and the following places exactly in the order in which they are here,<\/p>\n “after Rhinocorura lies new Gaza, which is the city itself; then “Gaza the desert” (the place here prophesied of); then the city Askelon; after that Azotus (or Ashdod); then the city Accaron” (or Ekron):<\/p>\n and Ashkelon a desolation<\/strong>; this was another lordship belonging to the Philistines, that suffered at the same time as Gaza did by Nebuchadnezzar, Jer 47:5<\/span>. This place was ten miles from Gaza, as Mr. Sandys n says, and who adds, and now of no note; and Strabo o speaks of it in his time as a small city; indeed new Ashkelon is said by Benjamin of Tudela p to be a very large and beautiful city; but then he distinguishes it from old Ashkelon, here prophesied of; and which (he says) is four “parsoe”, or sixteen miles, from the former, and now lies waste and desolate:<\/p>\n they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day<\/strong>, that is, the Chaldeans shall drive out the inhabitants of Ashdod, another of the principalities of the Philistines; the same with Azotus, Ac 8:40<\/span> “at noon day”, openly and publicly, and with great ease; they shall have no occasion to use any secret stratagems, or to make night work of it; and which would be very incommodious and distressing to the inhabitants, to be turned out at noon day, and be obliged to travel in the heat of the sun, which in those eastern countries at noon day beats very strong. This place was distant from old Ashkelon four “parsae”, or twenty four miles, as Benjamin Tudelensis q affirms; and with which agrees Diodorus Siculus r, who says, that from Gaza to Azotus are two hundred and seventy furlongs, which make thirty four miles, ten from Gaza to Ashkelon, and twenty four from thence to Azotus or Ashdod. This place, according to the above Jewish traveller s, is now called Palmis, which he says is the Ashdod that belonged to the Philistines, now waste and desolate; by which this prophecy is fulfilled. It was once a very large and famous city, strong and well fortified; and held out a siege of twenty nine years against Psamittichus king of Egypt, as Herodotus t relates, but now destroyed; see Isa 20:1<\/span>:<\/p>\n and Ekron shall be rooted up<\/strong>; as a tree is rooted up, and withers away, and perishes, and there is no more hope of it: this denotes the utter destruction of this place. There is here also an elegant allusion to the name of the place u, not to be imitated in a version of it: this was another of the lordships of the Philistines, famous for the idol Beelzebub, the god of this place. Jerom w observes, that some think that Accaron (or Ekron) is the same with Strato’s tower, afterwards called Caesarea; and so the Talmudists say x, Ekron is Caesarea; which is not at all probable: he further observes, that there is a large village of the Jews, which in his days was called Accaron, and lay between Azotus and Jamnia to the east; but Breidenbachius y relates, that, in his time, Accaron was only a small cottage or hut, yet retaining its ancient name; so utterly rooted up is this place, which once was a considerable principality. Gath is not mentioned, which is the other of the five principalities, because it was now, as Kimchi says, in the hands of the kings of Judah.<\/p>\n h . i Geograph. l. 16. p. 502. k De locis Hebraicis, fol. 91. K. l Travels, par. 1. B. 2. c. 36. p. 180. m Apud Reland. Palestina Illustrata, l. 2. p. 509. n Travels, p. 151. o Geograph. l. 16. p. 502. p Itinorarium, p. 51. q Ibid. r Bibliothec. l. 19. p. 723. s Itinerarium, p. 51. t Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 157. u . w De locis Heb. fol. 88. D. x T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 6. 1. y Apud Adrichom. Theatrum Terrae Sanctae, p. 20.<\/p>\n Destruction of the Philistines. – Zep 2:4<\/span>. “For Gaza will be forgotten, and Ashkelon become a desert; Ashdod, they drive it out in broad day, and Ekron will be ploughed out.<\/em> Zep 2:5<\/span>. Woe upon the inhabitants of the tract by the sea, the nation of the Cretans! The word of Jehovah upon you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines! I destroy thee, so that not an inhabitant remains.<\/em> Zep 2:6<\/span>. And the tract by the sea becomes pastures for shepherds’ caves, and for folds of sheep.<\/em> Zep 2:7<\/span>. And a tract will be for the remnant of the house of Judah; upon them will they feed: in the houses of Ashkelon they encamp in the evening; for Jehovah their God will visit them, and turn their captivity.” <\/em> The fourth verse, which is closely connected by k <\/em> (for) with the exhortation to repentance, serves as an introduction to the threat of judgment commencing with hoi <\/em> in Zep 2:5<\/span>. As the mentioning of the names of the four Philistian capitals (see at Jos 13:3<\/span>) is simply an individualizing periphrasis for the Philistian territory and people, so the land and people of Philistia are mentioned primarily for the purpose of individualizing, as being the representatives of the heathen world by which Judah was surrounded; and it is not till afterwards, in the further development of the threat, that the enumeration of certain near and remote heathen nations is appended, to express more clearly the idea of the heathen world as a whole. Of the names of the Philistian cities Zephaniah makes use of two, Azzah <\/em> and Eqron <\/em>, as a play upon words, to express by means of paronomasia the fate awaiting them. azzah <\/em>, Gaza, will be azubhah <\/em>, forsaken, desolate. Eqron <\/em>, Ekron, will be teaqer <\/em>, rooted up, torn out of its soil, destroyed. To the other two he announces their fate in literal terms, the sh e mamah <\/em> threatened against Ashkelon corresponding to the azubhah <\/em>, and the garesh <\/em> predicated of Ashdod preparing the way for Ekron’s teaqer <\/em>. at noon, i.e., in broad day, might signify, when used as an antithesis to night, “with open violence” (Jerome, Kimchi); but inasmuch as the expulsion of inhabitants is not effected by thieves in the night, the time of noon is more probably to be understood, as v. Clln and Rosenmller suppose, as denoting the time of day at which men generally rest in hot countries (2Sa 4:5<\/span>), in the sense of unexpected, unsuspected expulsion; and this is favoured by Jer 15:8<\/span>, where the devastation at noon is described as a sudden invasion. The omission of Gath may be explained in the same manner as in Amo 1:6-8<\/span>, from the fact that the parallelism of the clauses only allowed the names of four cities to be given; and this number was amply sufficient to individualize the whole, just as Zephaniah, when enumerating the heathen nations, restricts the number to four, according to the four quarters of the globe: viz., the Philistines in the west (Zep 2:5-7<\/span>); the Moabites and Ammonites comprised in one in the east (Zep 2:8-10<\/span>); the Cushites in the south (Zep 2:11<\/span>, Zep 2:12<\/span>); and Asshur, with Nineveh, in the north (north-east), (Zep 2:13-15<\/span>). The woe with which the threat is commenced in Zep 2:5<\/span> applies to the whole land and people of the Philistines. Chebhel <\/em>, the measure, then the tract of land measured out or apportioned (see at Deu 3:4<\/span>; Deu 32:9<\/span>, etc.). The tract of the sea is the tract of land by the Mediterranean Sea which was occupied by the Philistines ( chebhel hayyam <\/em> = ‘erets P e lishtm <\/em>). Zephaniah calls the inhabitants goi K e rethm <\/em>, nation of the Cretans, from the name of one branch of the Philistian people which was settled in the south-west of Philistia, for the purpose of representing them as a people devoted to karath <\/em>, or extermination. The origin of this name, which is selected both here and in Eze 25:16<\/span> with a play upon the appellative signification, is involved in obscurity; for, as we have already observed at 1Sa 30:14<\/span>, there is no valid authority for the derivation which is now current, viz., from the island of Crete<\/em> (see Stark, Gaza<\/em>, pp. 66 and 99ff.). forms an independent sentence: The word of the Lord cometh over you. The nature of that word is described in the next sentence: I will destroy thee. The name K e naan <\/em> is used in the more limited sense of Philistia, and is chosen to indicate that Philistia is to share the lot of Canaan, and lose its inhabitants by extermination.<\/p>\n The Punishment of the Philistines.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 612.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> 4 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up. 5 Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD<\/B> is<\/I> against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. 6 And the sea coast shall be dwellings and<\/I> cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks. 7 And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the LORD<\/B> their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity.<\/P> The prophet here comes to foretel what share the neighbouring nations should have in the destruction made upon those parts of the world by Nebuchadnezzar and his victorious Chaldees, as others of the prophets did at that time, which is designed, 1. To awaken the people of the Jews, by making them sensible how strong, how deep, how large, the inundation of calamities should be, that the day of the Lord,<\/I> which was near, might appear the more dreadful, and they might thereby be quickened to prepare for it as for a general deluge. 2. To comfort them with this thought, that their case, though sad, should not be singular (Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris<\/I>—The wretched find it consolatory to have companions of their woe<\/I>), and much more with this, that though God had seemed to be their enemy, and to fight against them, yet he was still so far their friend, and an enemy to their enemies, that he resented, and would revenge, the indignities done them.<\/P> In these verses we have the doom of the Philistines, who were near neighbours, and old enemies, to the people of Israel. Five lordships there were in that country; only four are here named–Gaza<\/I> and Ashkelon, Ashdod<\/I> and Ekron;<\/I> Gath, the fifth, is not named, some think because it was now subject to Judah. They were the inhabitants of the sea-coasts<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 5<\/span>), for their country lay upon the Great Sea. The nation of the Cherethites<\/I> is here joined with them, which bordered upon them (1 Sam. xxx. 14<\/span>) and fell with them, as is foretold also, Ezek. xxv. 16<\/span>. The Philistines’ land is here called Canaan, for it belonged to that country which God gave to his people Israel, and was inserted in the grant made to them, Josh. xiii. 3<\/span>. This land is yet to be possessed (five lords of the Philistines<\/I>), so that they wrongfully kept Israel out of the possession of it (Judg. iii. 3<\/span>), which is now remembered against them. For, though the rights of others may be long detained unjustly, the righteous God will at length avenge the wrong.<\/P> I. It is here foretold that the Philistines, the usurpers, shall be dispossessed and quite extirpated. In general, here is a woe to them (v.<\/I><\/span> 5<\/span>), which, coming from God, denotes all misery: The word of the Lord is against them<\/I>–the word of the former prophets, which, though not yet accomplished, will be in its season, Isa. xiv. 31<\/span>. This word, now by this prophet, is against them. Note, Those are really in a woeful condition that have the word of the Lord against them, for no word of his shall fall to the ground. Those that rebel against the precepts of God’s word shall have the threatenings<\/I> of the word against them. The effect will be no less than their destruction, 1. God himself will be the author of it: “I will even destroy thee,<\/I> who can make good what I say and will.” 2. It shall be a universal destruction; it shall extend itself to all parts of the land, both city and country: Gaza shall be forsaken,<\/I> though now a populous city. It was foretold (Jer. xlvii. 6<\/span>) that baldness<\/I> should come upon Gaza; Alexander the Great razed that city, and we find (Acts viii. 26<\/span>) that Gaza was a desert. Ashkelon<\/I> shall be a desolation,<\/I> a pattern of desolation. Ashdod shall be driven out at noon-day;<\/I> in the extremity of the scorching heat they shall have no shade, no shelter to protect them; but then, when most incommoded by the weather, they shall be forced away into captivity, which will be an aggravating circumstance of it. Ekron<\/I> likewise shall be rooted up,<\/I> that had been long taking root. The land of the Philistines shall be dispeopled; there shall be no inhabitant,<\/I> v.<\/span> 5<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. God made the earth to be inhabited<\/I> (Isa. xlv. 18<\/span>), otherwise he would have made it in vain; but, if men do not answer the end of their creation in serving God, it is just with God that the earth should not answer the end of its creation in serving them for a habitation; man’s sin has sometimes subjected it to this vanity. 3. It shall be an utter destruction. The sea-coast, which used to be a harbour for ships and a habitation for merchants, shall now be deserted, and be only cottages for shepherds<\/I> and folds for flocks<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 6<\/span>), and then perhaps put to better use than when it was possessed by the lords of the Philistines.<\/P> II. It is here foretold that the house of Judah, the rightful owners, shall recover the possession of it, v.<\/I><\/span> 7<\/span>. The remnant of those that shall return out of captivity,<\/I> when God visits them, shall be made to lie down<\/I> in safety Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>The calamities falling upon one sinner often involve others. The ruin of the Hebrew nation would be most calamitous to the Philistine cities, and indeed to the neighbouring States. It is so–<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>That the lot of man is at the disposal of almighty god. And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks. And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the Lord their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity. Here the Almighty is represented as arranging the future home and circumstances of the remnant of the house of Judah. Though we are free, and are conscious of our freedom, we are at the disposal of One above us. He has appointed–<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n