Places of the Bible
Gaza
City
What happened here
- Conversion of Ethiopian Eunuch · 32 AD
Where the name appears
Events told in passages that name Gaza, and how many of their verses do. That is not the same as saying they happened here: a place can be named as a landmark, as somewhere being travelled to, or as the subject of a prophecy.
A dot is a moment; a bar is something that lasted, drawn to its length. The fainter the mark, the fewer verses name the place.
- War with Canaanites · 1450 BC · 2 verses
- Subjugation by Midian · 1257 BC · 1 verse
- Reign of Solomon · 1014 BC · 1 verse
- Prophecies of Amos · 787 BC · 2 verses
- Reign of Hezekiah · 725 BC · 1 verse
- Prophecies of Jeremiah · 627 BC · 3 verses
- Prophecies of Zephaniah · 609 BC · 1 verse
- Prophecies of Zechariah · 519 BC · 1 verse
Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Called also Azzah, which is its Hebrew name (Deut. 2:23; 1 Kings 4:24; Jer. 25:20), strong, a city on the Mediterranean shore, remarkable for its early importance as the chief centre of a great commercial traffic with Egypt. It is one of the oldest cities of the world (Gen. 10:19; Josh. 15:47). Its earliest inhabitants were the Avims, who were conquered and displaced by the Caphtorims (Deut. 2:23; Josh. 13:2, 3), a Philistine tribe. In the division of the land it fell to the lot of Judah (Josh. 15:47; Judg. 1:18). It was the southernmost of the five great Philistine cities which gave each a golden emerod as a trespass-offering unto the Lord (1 Sam. 6:17). Its gates were carried away by Samson (Judg. 16:1-3). Here he was afterwards a prisoner, and “did grind in the prison house.” Here he also pulled down the temple of Dagon, and slew “all the lords of the Philistines,” himself also perishing in the ruin (Judg. 16:21-30). The prophets denounce the judgments of God against it (Jer. 25:20; 47:5; Amos 1:6, 7; Zeph. 2:4). It is referred to in Acts 8:26. Philip is here told to take the road from Jerusalem to Gaza (about 6 miles south-west of Jerusalem), “which is desert”, i.e., the “desert road,” probably by Hebron, through the desert hills of Southern Judea.
It is noticed on monuments as early as B.C. 1600. Its small port is now called el-Mineh.
From M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary (1893), in the public domain.
Named in 19 verses
- Genesis
- 10:19
- Joshua
- 10:41, 11:22, 15:47
- Judges
- 1:18, 6:4, 16:1, 16:21
- 1 Samuel
- 6:17
- 1 Kings
- 4:24
- 2 Kings
- 18:8
- Jeremiah
- 25:20, 47:1, 47:5
- Amos
- 1:6, 1:7
- Zephaniah
- 2:4
- Zechariah
- 9:5
- Acts
- 8:26
The place, its people and its events come from Theographic, a knowledge graph of the Bible by Robert Rouse, used and shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.