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Ashkelon- location profile

Location and Setting

• Ashkelon is located on the Mediterranean coast on the Plain of Philistia, thirty miles southwest of Joppa and twelve miles northeast of Gaza.
• Maritime activity as well as its position on the International Coastal Highway distinguished Ashkelon as a strategic center for trade.
• The area’s fertile soil makes agriculture an important factor in the economy. A type of onion, the scallion, is a product specific to the region, deriving its name from Ashcalon, the modern spelling of the city of Ashkelon.

Historical and Biblical Significance

• Five city-states, Ashdod, Gath, Ekron, Gaza, and Ashkelon constituted the Philistine pentapolis (1 Sam 6:4,17). These cities were at the height of their power and influence at the time of Saul, when they were militarily superior to the Israelites.
• Samson killed thirty people from Ashkelon to procure their clothes as a payment for a wager he had lost (Judg 14:10-19).
• After the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, it was carried through Ashkelon and two other pentapolis cities, bringing God’s judgment upon their inhabitants. The ark was eventually returned to Israel along with guilt offerings from each city, intended to divert God’s wrath and give them relief from their plague (1 Sam 6:17).
• In David’s lament for the deaths of Saul and Jonathan, he pled that the news of this event would not be proclaimed in Ashkelon (2 Sam 1:17). He did not want Israel’s enemy to have reason for rejoicing.
• Ashkelon was the family home of Herod Antipater and his son, Herod the Great.

Bibliography

1. Aharoni, Y. and M. Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993.
2. DeVries, LaMoine F. Cities of the Biblical World. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997.
3. Monson, J. Student Map Manual. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979.
4. White Jr., W. "Ashkelon" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.
5. Wiseman, D.J. "Ashkelon" The New Bible Dictionary. 2^nd ed. Ed. J.D. Douglas. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1982.