Gaza was one of the five city-states of the Philistines, alongside Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. It sat on the Mediterranean coast, at the point where the trade routes between Egypt and Syria crossed.
Its name, meaning “strong,” matched its reputation as a fortified city. Joshua recorded that even after the conquest of Canaan, some of the ancient Anakites still lived there.
It is in Gaza that the darkest and yet most glorious chapter of Samson’s life unfolds. There he exposed himself to a personal weakness, and later, blind and humiliated by the Philistines, he found in the pillars of the temple of Dagon the stage for his final victory.
Centuries later, the prophets Amos and Zephaniah would announce judgment on Gaza. And it was on the road going down from Jerusalem to Gaza that Philip met the Ethiopian eunuch, an encounter that helped carry the gospel to the African continent.
The history of Gaza shows that God acts even in the most fortified and hardest places, revealing there both his justice and his grace.
