Judgment upon PHILISTIA and GAZA
Amos 1:6-8
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom:
But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof: And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord GOD.
“him that holdeth the sceptre” = king or ruler
Ezekiel 25:15-17 Philistia
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred; Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.
Isaiah 14:28-32
In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.
Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.
Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times. What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.
It is during this time period that the 10-tribe nation is taken into captivity by the country of Assyria. King Hezekiah of Judah will take on and defeat the Philistines in 2 Kings 18:8.
Jeremiah 47:1-7
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
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. 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;
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. Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?
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. 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.
Zechariah 9:5-7 “Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; 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. And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. 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.”
Ashkelon, Ekron, Gaza, Ashdod = locations in Palestine
Strangers would inhabit the land of the Philistines. The king would die and there would be no successor.
Strangers shall inherit, who legitimately have no more right to the land than a bastard child does to the inheritance of the birth children. All the strength and wealth that the Philistines were proud of; would be cut-off. Blood out of his mouth is idol worship and eating of the idol sacrifice.
A century later, Alexander the Great would come through and wreck havoc on these nations destroying most. There is also an interesting note that, Alexander’s mother Olympia was accused of Adultery at his birth and she credited the birth to the Greek god.
Those that are left in the land will be for the God of the Jews and will act in the role of custodian in Judah.
Joel 3:3-8
And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;
Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things: The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.
Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head: And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.
These Nations are Guilty of:
They cast lots for God’s people
Given boys to be harlots
Trading a boy taken in war for the price of hiring of a harlot
Sold the girls for wine, just for the pleasure of being drunk
The contempt of being sold for pleasure in contrast to selling to increase their wealth
Took the silver and gold of God’s and put it into pagan temples
Vessels and treasures of the Jewish temple
Sold the Jews into slavery into far lands just to be rid of them.
What will the price of judgment cost:
Recompence will be made
Their own children will be sold to the Jews, who will in turn sell them to a land far away from their home.
Tyre and Philistines are mentioned by other prophets as being under the coming judgment of God.
Zechariah saw the punishment of the nations in a vision in Zechariah 1:18-21 and also received a similar admonishment on both Tyre and Philistia from God in Zechariah 9:2-8