For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon shall become a desolation; Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon, and Ekron shall be uprooted.
The prophet has just called the humble in Judah to seek the Lord before His anger falls. Now the word turns west and names four Philistine cities: why name Judah's old neighbours here, and is their ruin past or still ahead?
Judgment begins at home
Why does the prophet turn to the nations right after warning Jerusalem?
William KellyIf the LORD must judge His people, all the world must bow; no nation can escape. What Nebuchadnezzar did was only the first instalment of a great and complete judgment. Yet the LORD had to begin with His land, His people, and His city, as in Zephaniah 1.
Four seats of Philistine power
Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron were not random towns picked from a map.
William KellyThen comes the warning of what will happen in the day of the LORD's anger. No doubt it has been carried out in part, and will be carried out still more… These were cities of Philistine power.
Ashkelon shows the pattern: God gave the city to Judah, and Judah never held it.
Morrish Bible DictionaryOne of the five main cities of the Philistines. It fell to the lot of Judah, who took Ashkelon and its surrounding areas (Judges 1:18). But Judah never truly subdued it. It was still in Philistine hands when Samson, with the Spirit of the Lord upon him, killed thirty men in the city and took their goods.
An enemy inside the borders
Where these people lived mattered as much as their hostility.
J. N. DarbyThey were in the territory of the Israelites — within the land, and even on this side of the Jordan. They were not, like the Egyptians or Assyrians, enemies from outside. They were always hostile to Israel, the people God had appointed to own the land of promise. That made them far more dangerous, since they were always close at hand and claimed the country as their own. So the Philistines picture for us the power of the enemy acting from within.
A threat with a promise in it
Because these squatters occupy ground that belongs to God's people, clearing them out is not only punishment — it is preparation.
J. N. DarbyThe judgment would fall on the whole territory of Israel, occupied in many parts by strangers hostile to the people.
The result of that desolation is stated plainly:
J. N. DarbyThe desolation that follows would leave the whole land free for Israel to own — for God never takes back His gifts and calling. The LORD would visit them and bring back His captives, and the remnant of His people would own the land.
An argument for repentance
The judgment on these cities gives God's people a reason to turn back to Him.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinBecause the remnant is to possess this territory when Philistia is judged, they ought to repent and seek the Lord. That this is still unfulfilled hardly needs pointing out. It was not fulfilled in the remnant that returned from the Babylonian captivity. Since the day they rejected Christ, they have been out of the land. Here is a prophecy of final blessing for the remnant in the day of the Lord, when they will be gathered back.
Judgment now, mercy later
Commentators differ on how much of this has already happened. Writing on the same cities in Zechariah, one of them finds two stages: a blow that has fallen, and a later one that leaves survivors:
Edward DennettIt is more than probable, as we have pointed out before, that these predictions have a double fulfilment. Part of them has already come true, though not the whole… But the careful reader will notice that the whole prophecy has not come true. It speaks of a spared remnant from the Philistines who will be "for our God." That must be future. It points to a day when these cities are revived and judgment falls on them again. Then the Lord, through His chosen instruments, will stain all the pride of their glory, and at the same time He will restore a remnant for blessing.
Summary
- Begins — God's judgment starts with His own land, people and city. If it begins there, no nation on earth can hope to escape.
- Spreads — the four cities were the seats of Philistine strength. History has seen part of their sentence; the rest is still to come.
- Reaches inside — the Philistines lived inside the land God gave Israel. They were close at hand and claimed it as theirs, and that made them dangerous.
- Clears — the desolation punishes, but it also empties the ground. At last the returning remnant of Judah can hold the whole land.
- Persuades — God is clearing the very land He promised to the faithful few. So the verse presses one thing: seek the Lord now.