Gaza

“ Shall we indeed throw open Jerusalem? The guards, whom thou didst send by the hand of Haya, son of Miare, Addaya took, stationing them in his house in Gaza and twenty men has he sent to Egypt. Let the king know that there are no royal guards with me! It is so as the king lives! Verily Puru is beaten. He has gone from me and is in Gaza. May the king remember it and may the king send fifty men as guards to protect the land! All the lands of the king are in revolt. Send Yinhenhame and let him care for the land of the king. To the scribe of the king, my lord, say: Ebed-Hepa, thy servant. ”

“ Gaza, next to Tyre, was the most important fortress in the Philistinian-Phœnician coast. Plutarch (c. a.d. 66) , telling the story of its siege by Alexander, calls it "the biggest city of Syria."
After this siege, Gaza became more and more a Greek centre. New colonists settled within the city, which ceased to be a Philistine centre. Josephus expressly designated it a πόλις Ἑλληνίς.
315 b.c.—Gaza was conquered by Antigonus, King of [31] Asia, having been wrested from Ptolemy I, Soter, of Egypt (323-285) , who had seized Philistia and garrisoned Gaza in 320 b.c. ”

“ It is necessary to realize Gaza’s position and its links with trading centres, since conditions in the comparatively small and half-desert land of Judah depended essentially upon its relations with the Edomites and Arabian tribes on the south-east and with the Philistines on the west. ”

“ In fact the fairs at Gaza were always famed throughout Palestine.
Until the last seven years the numerous hordes of 100,000 Beduins within the Beersheba district were under the government of Gaza. They swarm the desert towards the south in the winter months, and then move northwards, up the Philistia plain, for herbage.
Even in Christian families, until about thirty years ago, slaves were sold in Gaza.
The cattle of Gaza are few, and there is scarcely any export. Camels are common. ”

“ An angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, "Arise, and go toward the south, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza: the same is desert." Now we should here carefully remark the minute exactness of the Acts of the Apostles in this place, because it is only a specimen of the marvellous geographical and historical accuracy which distinguishes it all through, and is every year receiving fresh illustrations. Gaza has always been the gateway of Palestine. Invader after invader when passing from Egypt to Palestine has taken Gaza in his way. ”

“ While travelling subsequently through the country to the south-east of Gaza on my way to Ismailia, I noticed the Arabs cultivating the ground extensively; they live, of course, entirely in tents, and the barley they grow is sent in to market, but the chopped straw is made up into numbers of small heaps on the ground and covered with earth, forming little domes exactly like the nawâmîs. There are few stones on the Gaza plain, and little earth to spare in the wâdies of the peninsula. ”

“ My experience is that the most useful boys' school in Syria is at Sidon, under the American Congregationalists, and Gaza may well be proud of its girls' school, for there is nothing to approach its varied excellence in Palestine.
The misgovernment of Gaza and its district is worse under the Young Turks than under the late régime. But the C.M.S. mission work in the Gaza compound is indeed a bright spot in the city, and the persistent Christian teaching—boldly proclaimed—is bearing fruit in unexpected quarters. Holy enthusiasm is bound to tell in the course of time. ”

“ Rain had fallen heavily for a short time during our stay at Gaza and though its advent had been a welcome change we later had cause to regret the hot sunny days of the Sinai Desert. The flat coastal plain which runs north from Gaza has been cultivated land ever since Biblical times, and is the most fertile spot in the whole of Palestine, and in consequence the most thickly populated, though the total number in the whole land, apart from the cities such as Gaza, Jaffa, Ludd and Jerusalem, would disgrace a small English county. ”

“ During the many wars between the Muslim rulers of Egypt and Syria, which preceded the Crusades, Gaza again suffered greatly.
a.d. 867.—Bernard the Wise—a Breton monk—describes Gaza as "very rich in all things."
a.d. 1149.—Baldwin III built a fortress at Gaza, in order to cut off the approach to Ascalon from the south.
The defence of the castle was entrusted to the Knights Templars.
The great buildings of Palestine are not to be ascribed to the Jews (for they were not a great building people) , but to the Byzantine and Crusading Christian epochs. ”

“ FRANKINCENSE (ARABIAN) AND GAZA
In early times the Beduins of the desert were glad of a market in Gaza for their spices and frankincense. [40] In fact, according to Dr. Meyer (from whom I freely quote) , the foundation of Gaza is most probably associated with the Minæans in their development of the frankincense trade. Extensive remains have been found in Central and Southern Arabia, which have been ascribed to these Minæans. Mr. Edward Glaser maintains that this people existed from about the seventeenth century b.c., and that the Sabæans followed them in the occupancy of those regions. ”

“ The Circus of Gaza [53]
Moonrise on the desert. Above the dark ridges of rocks which rose from the tawny waste of sand, a pale faint light poured down on the wilderness of Gaza. An aged man, yet apparently more worn with labour than with years, was standing at the entrance of a cave, which, dark and silent, pierced one of the mountain ridges.
The time of which I am speaking was about 350 years after the birth of our Lord; the place was one of the deserts which stretched themselves between the Nile and the Holy Land. Already innumerable hosts of monks occupied the wilderness of Egypt ”

“ The Turkish army at this time, as we have seen, held a strong position from the sea at Gaza, roughly along the main Gaza-Beersheba road to Beersheba. His force was on a wide front, the distance from Gaza to Beersheba being about 30 miles. Gaza itself had been made into a strong modern fortress, heavily entrenched and wired, offering every facility for protracted defence. ”

“ As a magistrate of this city, I am bound to judge and decide impartially; but as a believer in our [107] ancient faith, I am not ashamed to express my hope that Marnas will vindicate his honour by giving the victory to his worshipper. And this, men of Gaza, I know to be your wish as well as my own; the soothsayers have given us the promise of success; our god himself is on our side; and the prayers of all that have the ancient fame of Gaza at heart will be joined with mine that Ælius Flaccus may prove the victor in this race. ”

“ The old wells are constantly renewed, or new ones dug by their side.
Gerar was in that south-western corner of Palestine which in the age of the Exodus was inhabited by the Philistines. But they had been new-comers. All through the period of the eighteenth and nineteenth Egyptian dynasties the country had been in the hands of the Egyptians. Gaza had been their frontier fortress, and as late as the reign of Meneptah, the son of the Pharaoh of the Oppression, it was still garrisoned by Egyptian troops and governed by Egyptian officers. ”

“ Gaza made no resistance: its chief was friendly to the Egyptians, and gladly opened his gates to the invading army. Having rested at Gaza no more than a single night, Thothmes resumed his march, and continuing to skirt the coast, arrived on the eleventh day at a fortified town called Jaham, probably Jamnia. Here he was met by his scouts, who brought the intelligence that the enemy was collected at Megiddo, on the edge of the great plain of Esdraelon, the ordinary battle-field of the Palestinian nations. ”

“ Gaza was situated near the Mediterranean Sea, and was one of the most southern cities of Palestine. It has been supposed by some to have derived its name from the treasures deposited there by Cambyses, king of the Persians; because they say Gaza, in Persian, signifies treasure; so Pomponius Mela and others. But it is more likely to be a Hebrew word, and that this city derived its name, עזה azzah, from עזז azaz, to be strong, it being a strong or well fortified place. The Hebrew ע ain in this word is, by the Septuagint, the Arabic, and the Vulgate, rendered G ”

“ Coles, of Haifa, possesses a large number of Hadrian's Gaza coins.
[34]
"In the second and third centuries Gaza became a prosperous centre of Greek commerce and culture. Her schools were good, but her temples were famous, circling round the Marneion.... The schools of Gaza in philosophy and rhetoric grew more and more distinguished. Students, it is said, left Athens to learn the Attic style in Philistia, and even Persia borrowed her teachers." —G. A. Smith.
c. a.d. 300-371.—St. Hilarion, the first hermit of Palestine, was born at Thabatha, five miles from Gaza. ”

“ The imperial coins of Gaza from Augustus to Gordian bear two different sets of dates; the first Gaza era beginning 61 b.c., the second beginning a.d. 129. The second era probably commemorates the visit of Hadrian to Gaza. [17] On some of the coins these two eras appear concurrent. These imperial coins, with inscriptions ΓΑΖΑΙΩΝ, ΓΑΖΑ, etc., have usually the addition of the Phœnician letter , from which the Swastica, the characteristic mark on Gaza coins, is possibly derived, the initial representing the divinity Marnas. The Temple of Marnas was called the Marneion. ”

“ No city in the world has been destroyed more often. Happy, indeed is the city that has no history!
Prior to this war, Gaza was a town of some 40,000 inhabitants, mostly Moslems, to whom the city is sacred. It owed its importance in modern times to being the junction of the caravan routes from Egypt to Syria and from Arabia to the Mediterranean. ”

“ In favour of his Ascalon descent are certain allusions of Herod I to that city. At the death of Herod the Great, Gaza, still called a "maritime city," was annexed once more by Augustus to the province of Syria. [13]
Two of the passes through the Judæan and the Samaritan hills were strongly fortified by Herod I, who also held the tolls at Gaza, for Arabia by Petra and for Egypt. Gaza is the outpost of Africa, and the door of Asia. ”

“ As that of Ælius Flaccus takes up its position, the Red faction through the circus rise, clap their hands, stamp with their feet, and cheer. And well they may; for every one agrees that finer animals than the three black horses yoked abreast which draw it were never seen in Gaza. There is also some applause bestowed on the three bay horses of Italicus, but poor and faint indeed, as compared with the thunder that had greeted the other. As you may well imagine, their master has carefully observed the directions of Hilarion ”

“ Gaza [70] may be considered the bridgehead leading into or out of Egypt. In Biblical times it was always a thorn in the side of the Jews, and they were never able to capture it. It was, however, captured from the Philistines on various occasions both by the Egyptians on their expeditions into Syria and by the Syrians on their expeditions into Egypt. No army could afford to leave it untaken on their lines of communication. It will be remembered that we ourselves made two costly failures here in our first attempts to enter Palestine during the Great War. ”

“ THE PRINCE OF PEACE 295
Though no special mention is made of Ashkelon, Ekron, or Ashdod in the histories of Alexander s march, they were no doubt occupied by the Macedonian troops. The fate of Gaza, however, at that time is fully recorded. " Strongly fortified, and occupying an important position, its very name, the strong, testified to its natural strength. Despite, therefore, of the terror caused by the overthrow of Tyre, Gaza ventured to resist Alexander, and was not reduced to submission for five months. ”

“ Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
38:009:006 And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
38:009:007 And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite. ”

“ There life was energetic and gay, there many pleasures were to be had. New colonists were coming in their swift ships and the streets presented a scene of constant animation. The strong eager man, full of animal passion, found the life he craved in Gaza where he mingled with the crowds and heard tales of strange existence. ”

“ Yet it also seems clear from the Egyptian monuments that the settlement was not fully completed until after the Asiatic campaigns of the Pharaoh had occurred. The Philistines indeed formed part of the great invading host which poured through Syria and assailed Egypt in the early part of his reign, but Gaza was one of his conquests, and its possession enabled him to march into Canaan. Before Gaza could become a Philistine city it was needful that its Egyptian garrison should be withdrawn. ”

“ Gaza, one of his chief indunas, has a kraal on an exceedingly high rock by which we passed; in fact, about here the country is very populous, owing to the rocky nature of the ground and the inaccessible eyries in which the natives can plant their huts. We wondered what the meaning of many pots might be which we saw here on high boulders with stones around and on the top. By inquiry we learnt that they were beehives, equivalent to the bark hives we so constantly saw farther south. There is much ceremony about here at the presentation of beer. ”