Gaza and Ashkelon in Bible Prophecy
Gaza is about 59 miles West of the city of Jerusalem. Ashkelon is about 16 miles North of Gaza. The Gaza Strip is about 25 miles long running from the Southeast to the North in Israel along the West coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Gaza Strip varies between 3.7 to 7.5 miles wide or deep extending from the coastline West into the nation of Israel.
The city of Gaza, which is today geographically Gaza City, is first mentioned in Genesis 10:19 as one of the cities that were occupied by the descendants of Noah’s son Ham after the Great Flood, and of which became part of the land of the Canaanites.
“15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, 16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, 17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, 18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. 19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations” (Genesis 10:15-20).
Most of the geography of what we know as today as the Promised Land, or the nation of Israel, was occupied by the Canaanites until the time of Joshua. God had promised the land of the Canaanites to Abraham in the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 15:8. The consummation by the “smoking furnace” passing between the divided sacrifices was God’s confirmation of the land promised to the descendants of Abraham in the nation of Israel. Gaza and Ashkelon were two of the main cities that were part of this Promised Land.
The fact that this real estate was given by God to Israel and the surety of that promise was confirmed by the fact that Abraham was not given any conditions on his part for the fulfilment of the land promises. The surety of these land promises are a covenant between the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus, represented by the “smoking furnace” that passed between the sacrificial animal parts consuming them. This portrays the propitiation of God’s wrath in its prophetic fulfillment in the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary.
It is important in this context of the preservation of the nation of Israel and the land promises to the nation of Israel are NOT condition on the faithfulness of the nation of Israel to the Mosaic Covenant. God’s promise of preservation of the nation and the surety of the land promises are secured by the unconditional promise of God in the Abrahamic Covenant intent upon manifesting the sovereignty of God within human events and throughout human history. God has miraculously accomplished His land promise and will continue to do so throughout the rest of the history of the world.
“7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. 8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? 9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. 10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not” (Genesis 15:7-10).
After the forty years of purification of the “mixed multitude” from the children of Israel after their Exodus from Egypt, Joshua led the faithful remnant into begin occupying the Promised Land. Joshua was commanded to purify the Promised Land of the Canaanites. The Canaanite culture was wicked beyond description. The Canaanites were an extremely sexually deviant culture practicing bestiality, incest, fornication, homosexuality, and even child sacrifices. The product of the procreation resulting from this sexual deviance was considered by God as human “vomit” and was addressed by God in His instructions regarding Israel’s separation from these practices. What God addresses and forbids to the nation of Israel in Leviticus 18:19-25 were common practices of the Canaanites.
“19 Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness. 20 Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife, to defile thyself with her. 21 And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech {infant and child sacrifice}, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. 22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. 23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. 24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: 25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants” (Leviticus 18:19-25).
The four-hundred and thirty years that Israel was under Egyptian bondage was the longsuffering of God in giving the inhabitants of Canaan (“Amorites”) time to repent. Instead, the Canaanites grew more violent, oppressive, wicked, and perverse with every generation until
“12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. 13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full {complete to where God gave them up}” (Genesis 15:12-16).
Joshua was commanded to either drive the Canaanites out of the Promised Land or to annihilate them, man, woman, child, and beast, if they would not abandon the Promised land and leave it. In Deuteronomy 20:10-20, God gave more lenient instructions regarding the inhabitants outside of the boundaries of the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 20:10-15). God gave strict annihilation commandments regarding the Canaanites that refused to abandon the real estate within the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 20:16-20). This commandment to the children of Israel still stands.
“16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: 17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: 18 That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 20:16-20).
Joshua and the children of Israel failed to remove the Canaanites from Gaza and Ashkelon. This area has been an historical thorn in the flesh of the nation of Israel since Joshua’s and the children of Israel’s failure to drive them out of what we now call the Gaza Strip.
“40 So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded. 41 And Joshua smote them from Kadesh-barnea even unto Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon” (Joshua 10:40-41).
The area that surrounds the cities of Gaza and Gibeon is still what constitutes the geography known today as the Gaza Strip. The lesson we should learn is that our failures to do what God says to do become a testimony of unfaithfulness to the generations that follow. This failure by the children of Israel to occupy and remove or annihilate all pagans within the Promised Land will continue until Jesus accomplishes this purging at His second coming.
Israel’s failure to drive out or annihilate the Canaanites occupying the Gaza Strip took place about 1041 B.C. The Philistines began to occupy this real estate about sixty years before around 1100 B.C. The major cities of the Philistines were Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gath. Certainly, the names of these cities throughout Bible history bring to mind the constant conflict of the children of Israel with the Philistines from David with Goliath at Gath and Samson with Delilah at Gaza (Judges chapter sixteen).
The prophecies of Jeremiah chapter forty-seven and Amos chapter one are both prophetic dualisms, meaning they have had a historical fulfillment by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, but also will have a future Messianic fulfillment at the second coming of Jesus. The complete fulfilment of Israel occupying all the real estate promised by God in the Abrahamic Covenant will not happen until the Kingdom Age and the coming of King Jesus.
“1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza. 2 Thus saith the LORD; 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. 3 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; 4 Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor. 5 Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself? 6 O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still. 7 How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there hath he appointed it” (Jeremiah 47:1-7; see also Amos chapter one).
“35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: 36 If those ordinances {sun, moon, and stars} depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. 37 Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 31:35-37).
Just as God waited to deliverer Israel until the “the iniquity of the Amorites” (Canaanites) was “full” (Genesis 15:16), the second coming of Jesus is waiting “the fullness of the Gentiles. This is the “falling away” of II Thessalonians 2:3 before the rapture/deliverance of the Church and first aspects of the revealing of the Antichrist in the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11:25).
“He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Even so come Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20)!
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