Portal:Bible/Featured article/July, 2009

Ashdod is the fifth-largest city in Israel, located in the Southern District of the country, on the Mediterranean coast, with a population of 207,000. Ashdod is an important regional industrial centre. The Port of Ashdod is Israel's largest port accounting for sixty percent of the country's imported goods. The first documented settlement in Ashdod dates to the Canaanite culture of 17th century BC, making the city one of the most ancient in the world. Ashdod is mentioned thirteen times in the Bible. Judah's claim upon Ashdod is mentioned in the Book of Joshua. In the Book of Samuel Ashdod is mentioned among the principal Philistine cities. After capturing the Ark of the covenant from the Israelites, the Philistines took it to Ashdod, where it was placed in the temple of Dagon. The next morning Dagon was found prostrate, bowed down, before it; on being restored to his place, he was on the following morning again found prostrate and broken. In the Book of Nehemiah, some residents of Jerusalem are said to have married women from Ashdod, and half of the children of these unions were unable to understand Hebrew, but spoke "the language of Ashdod." In the Book of Isaiah an Assyrian general named Tartan, sent by Sargon, gained control of Ashdod in 711. The capture of the city by King Uzziah shortly after 815 B.C. is mentioned within the text of the Book of Chronicles and in the Book of Zechariah, speaking of the false Jews. The Book of Acts refers to Azotus (the Hellenistic name of Ashdod) as the place to which Philip the evangelist walked after the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. (more...)