What is the significance of Gaza in the Bible?

One of the five royal cities of the Philistines. We read of it as early as Gen. 10:19 as a border of the Canaanites. The Anakim dwelt there, but Judah was able to take Gaza and the coasts thereof. Joshua 11:22; Judges 1:18. In the time of Samson, however, the Philistines were in possession, and he was made a prisoner there. Judges 16:21. It was held afterwards by Solomon, 1 Kings 4:24 (where it is called AZZAH, as it is also in Deut. 2:23 and Jer. 25:20); but had to be taken again by Hezekiah. 2 Kings 18:8. It was afterwards smitten by Pharaoh. Jer. 47:1, 5. Having been a stronghold of the Philistines, woes were pronounced against it by the prophets. Amos 1:6-7; Zeph. 2:4; Zech. 9:5.

Gaza was the S.W. frontier town of Palestine, and did a large trade with the caravans to and from Egypt. It was taken by Cambyses, the Ptolemies, and by Alexander the Great, and was held in the twelfth century by the Knights Templars. Gaza is now under Palestinian rule. It is situate at 31 30' N, 34 28' E. Acts 8:26 signifies that the way from Jerusalem to Gaza was desert. This is supposed to refer to the road through Hebron, for after leaving that city it is comparatively desert.

There is quite a striking resemblance between what we have in the first part of this sixteenth chapter, and that which occurred at the beginning of Samson's public life. This shows, however, a moral declension, for he does not even go through the forms of regularity, but now gratifies his own desires, in spite of the blot upon his own moral character that it leaves. Samson goes down unto Gaza for the gratification of his own appetites, little caring what blot there might be left upon the name of God, and upon the name of his people, in so doing. He goes down there a victim to the flesh, and, beloved brethren, if one is a victim to the flesh within, it is only a matter of time when he will be a victim externally, visibly, too.

We have in this first part, Samson's going down unto Gaza, that which surely shows a state of soul that required the most vigorous and unsparing judgment of oneself, and yet there seems to be nothing of the kind. It may seem strange that a man could have any power at all who had so completely sacrificed his conscience, as Samson had, but it is a sad fact that the strength remains for a little season after conscience has gone. It seems to be, as it were, the lingering mercy of God that would hold one back, where even conscience is asleep, where it has been prevented from acting. God in His mercy would still have a word for the soul in the strength being yet preserved to a certain extent.

So, in spite of Samson's wretched state of soul that made this possible, he can rise during the night of his indulgence and carry off the gates of Gaza, that would have held him in captivity. He can carry off those gates, can carry them up the hill toward Hebron, in a sort of defiance of the people, who thought they held him surely because the gates were barred.

So also as to Gaza, and in similar style as representing the Philistines, their old, unremitting, and active antagonists, if not an internal, at least a borderer, foe.They had been guilty of transgression upon transgression, and therefore Jehovah would not here too turn back. He would deal summarily with their iniquity, not carrying them off merely, but annihilating them as a people. "The remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord Jehovah."

Philistia is represented by Gaza. They also mistreated Israel and sold them into the hands of Edom. (2 Chron. 21:16). The cities of Philistia; Gaza and its palaces would be consumed by fire. There would be an end to the Philistines, "the remnant of the Philistines shall perish saith the LORD."

Amos 1. In the outset Jehovah, proclaiming His own rights from the place of His own throne, roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem. Afterwards, quite at the end, the restoration of the house of David and of Israel likewise is announced. We may remark that, before the judgment of Israel and Judah is declared, that also of the surrounding nations is pronounced; and this, on account of their hostile and cruel behaviour to the people of Israel, and on account of that also which was essentially cruel in them, and opposed even to the sentiments of humanity; for God takes cognizance of all these things.

Syria is to be carried away captive into Assyria. The means employed for the judgment of the others is not mentioned. Gaza and the Philistines, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, pass successively in review; and, finally, Judah and Israel. God enters into much more detail with respect to the sins of His people. He had indeed specified that which characterised each nation judged; but with Israel He goes into detail. We may here again remark — that which we have seen elsewhere — that these judgments of Jehovah fall upon the nations that are established on the territory promised to Abraham, and belonging, according to this gift of God, to the people of Israel. God purges His land of that which defiles it, and consequently alas! of Judah and Israel likewise; but at the same time asserting and retaining His own rights, which He will exercise in grace on Israel's behalf in the last days. We see here the folly of the hope entertained by the enemies of the people, in seeking their ruin with the idea of finding their own advantage in it. Doubtless God can chastise His people, for He must make His own character manifest; but the malice of their enemies brings His judgment upon them also.

"The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza. Thus says Jehovah; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein; then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl." (Ver. 1, 2.) The king of the south might smite Gaza; but there were graver perils impending from a wholly different quarter, and this too announced before the blow struck by the king of Egypt. Under the well-known figure of rising waters and an overflowing flood, which Isaiah makes so familiar to his reader, was set forth the overwhelming scourge, and this from "the north," by which God was going to visit the neighbours of Israel on their south-western frontier. Utter devastation should come through their Chaldean invaders. Country and town should alike feel, men and all howl for anguish.

"At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands; because of the day that comes to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remains; for Jehovah will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor. Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley; how long wilt thou cut thyself?" (Ver. 3-5.) Thus does the Spirit energetically set forth the might of the assailants bearing down all before them, and the helpless agony of the once proud lords who formerly tyrannized over Israel, when they should look in vain for succour to Tyre and Zidon, and superstitious humiliation before their gods be as useless as the help of their old allies, themselves wasted and cut off. In truth, as the prophet tells them, it was Jehovah who would spoil the Philistines, whatever instrumentality he might be pleased to employ; and even this, to make all the more evidently of Himself, is not obscurely intimated.

Then we have the warning of what will take place in the day of Jehovah's anger, which no doubt has been partially accomplished, and will be yet more. "For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up." These were cities of Philistine power. "Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of Jehovah is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. 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;" which has clearly not been accomplished yet to the full. "In the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down in the evening: for Jehovah their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity." In fact the Jews have been carried off into a longer dispersion since then. The captivity in the days of Nebuchadnezzar was nothing at all so extreme as their scattering to the ends of the earth, consequent on the Roman destruction of Jerusalem.

Judgment is to come in that day upon Gaza and Ashkelon, upon Ashdod and Ekron, the chief cities of Philistia. The inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Cherethites, and all the land of the Philistines, will undergo judgment. The seventh verse gives the connection with the opening message of the chapter, the call to repentance. "And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon; in the house of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening; for the LORD their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity." Because the remnant is to possess this territory when Philistia is judged they ought to repent and seek the Lord. That this is still unaccomplished hardly needs to be pointed out. It was not fulfilled in the remnant which returned from the Babylonian captivity. Since the day of their rejection, when they rejected Christ, they have been out of the land. Here is a prophecy of ultimate blessing to the remnant in the day of the Lord, when they will be regathered.

We now enter upon a new period in Samson's history, characterized by the loss of his Nazariteship and by his restoration. Judges 16:31, compared with Judges 15:20, marks outwardly this division. In Judges 15, God had preserved His servant in spite of himself, in a definite engagement with a woman who served other gods. But that did not rectify the natural tendency of his heart. And the first verse of this chapter shows us where this tendency led him. He had courted the idolatrous world, and now he goes after the defiled world, not fearing temporary association with it. A worldly propensity unjudged leads us necessarily to more serious falls. Thus it was, in the history of the church, that Pergamos led to Thyatira. Samson's connection with this woman was but a passing one, and he did not lose his strength there, for the secret between himself and God still continued. Waylaid all night, at the gate of the city, by his mortal enemies, he arose from his slumber, "and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron" (v. 3).

More than once does the history of Samson remind us of that of Christ; as, for instance, his victory over the lion of Timnath, and again in the achievement of the gates of Gaza. Like Samson, the Lord awaking from the sleep of death, has brought to nought the machinations of the enemy in breaking the gates of his terrible fortress. He has led into captivity that which held us captives; and, ascended on high, He has displayed the trophies of His victory. Death, the citadel of Satan, having no longer doors to hold us, has become for us a passage; no bolt could imprison Christ there, no power is able to keep us there. The "hill that is before Hebron," the place of the risen Man who passed through death, is a sure guarantee to us.

The next fall of Samson shows him in a still lower place. When we have once lost our Nazariteship, unless it is followed by a full recognition of the fact, a thorough self-judgment and restoration of communion, we never recover our former condition. Hence it was that in "the law of the Nazarite" (Numbers 6) it was prescribed, that if a Nazarite contracted defilement, "the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled." Samson, as explained, was a Nazarite of another kind; but he, as much as the other, needed to confess his failure and sin. But of this there is no trace; and this will account for the sad record at the commencement of chapter 16. He had evidently lost all perception of what was suited to his divine call and mission. Satan, therefore, became bolder with his allurements, and consequently now appeals, not to the natural affections, as before, but to fleshly lusts. Samson's eyes were his constant snare: he "saw a woman in Timnath," and because she pleased him he would seek her in marriage; and here he "saw an harlot," and at once fell before the temptation. This was alliance with the world in a grosser form, according to the teaching of Jezebel (who had derived her doctrine from Balaam), who seduced the Lord's servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. (Rev. 2)

But it may be rejoined that Samson's strength still remained. Two things may be urged in answer to the objection: first, the use he made of his strength, and, secondly, the fact that he was still God's servant, whatever his condition. While Samson was in Gaza, his enemies "compassed him in," and made sure of their prey. But though Samson was wallowing in the mire, his enemies were God's enemies, and God would not yet allow them to triumph over His fallen servant. Samson was thus allowed to deliver himself by his great strength - but this was all. He obtained no victory over the Philistines, and brought no glory to God. He simply escaped from the hands of his foes. And let the reader remark, that the name of God does not appear in the incident. What a contrast to the close of the previous chapter. There Samson called on the Lord, and, owning His hand in the deliverance he had just received, besought Him for still further succour; and God heard His servant's cry. Here he seems to act in self-confidence, and to use what had been divinely bestowed for his own ends - a further proof of his lamentable state of soul.