11, 12. (a) What intercity alliance anciently dominated Philistia? (b) Whose pride would Jehovah cut off, and how?

¹¹ What, now, is the “word of Jehovah” as pronounced against Philistia? Anciently, the five-city league of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath and Gaza dominated the land of Philistia. For some reason Gath fails to be mentioned in Jehovah’s word here against the Philistines. Zechariah 9:5-7 continues the prophecy and says:

¹² “Ashkelon will see and get afraid; and as for Gaza, she will also feel very severe pains; Ekron also, because her looked-for hope will have to experience shame. And a king will certainly perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon herself will not be inhabited.

13. (a) How was Tyre’s destruction in 332 B.C.E. to affect Ashkelon, Gaza and Ekron? (b) What change was Ashdod to experience?

¹³ So the city of Ashkelon was to see the destruction of Tyre, and get afraid and then finally become uninhabited. As for Gaza, she felt very severe pains evidently for the same reason; and because of that painful event and its consequences, she experienced a change of rulership and her native king perished from her. The city of Ekron evidently looked to Tyre as her hope for protection and relief against an invading enemy. Hence, when Tyre was reduced to ruins after a seven-month siege by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.E., Ekron also writhed with very severe pains, because her hope had been disappointed, shamed.