Ashdod #39

Ashdod was one of the five chief cities of the Philistines, on the Mediterranean coastal plain about three miles (5 km) inland from the sea, on the road between Egypt and Phoenicia. The Bible lists it with Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron as a city ruled by a Philistine lord (Joshua 13:3). Although it was assigned to the tribe of Judah in the allotment of the land, Israel never fully occupied it (Joshua 15:46-47).

Biblical Significance

Ashdod is the setting for one of the more memorable stories in 1 Samuel. After the Philistines defeat Israel and capture the ark of God, they bring it to Ashdod and place it in the temple of their god Dagon, beside his statue. The next morning Dagon is found fallen on his face before the ark, and the following day he is found again, with his head and hands broken off on the threshold. The Lord’s hand is heavy on the people of Ashdod, who are struck with tumors, and they decide the ark cannot stay (1 Samuel 5:1-7). The story is told as a demonstration that no rival god can stand before the Lord.

In the age of the kings, King Uzziah of Judah breaks down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod and builds cities in the territory of Ashdod (2 Chronicles 26:6). The prophet Isaiah dates an oracle to the year that Sargon, king of Assyria, sent his commander to fight against Ashdod and capture it (Isaiah 20:1), and other prophets mention its coming judgment (Amos 1:8; Zephaniah 2:4; Zechariah 9:6). After the exile, Nehemiah is angry to discover that Jewish men had married women from Ashdod, and that half their children spoke the language of Ashdod and could not speak the language of Judah (Nehemiah 13:23-24).

In the New Testament, Ashdod appears under its Greek name. After baptizing the Ethiopian official on the Gaza road, Philip is carried away by the Spirit and finds himself at Azotus, and he preaches the gospel in all the towns until he reaches Caesarea (Acts 8:40).

Today

Modern Ashdod is a large Israeli port city on the Mediterranean coast, about 20 miles (32 km) south of Tel Aviv. The ancient mound, Tel Ashdod, or Tell Isdud, lies to the south of the modern city center. Excavations led by Moshe Dothan between 1962 and 1972 exposed a series of city layers from the Late Bronze and Iron Ages, including Philistine pottery decorated in the Aegean style and a small seated female figurine known as the Ashdoda, which is thought to reflect Philistine religion.

A fragment of a stele of Sargon II found at Ashdod records the Assyrian campaign against the city around 712 BC, which matches the event mentioned in Isaiah 20:1. These finds strengthen the historical background of the biblical passages.