Gaza City: Who owns Gaza City, Palestine or Israel? (Part 1)
Who owns Gaza? Story of Gaza in the Holy Scripture.
Gaza in the Holy Scripture.
Gaza is a place or an ancient City located on the border between Egypt and Israel, bordered by the Mediterranean Sea or the Dead Sea. This place (Gaza) was first mentioned in the holy scripture and can be found in the book of Genesis (Genesis 10:19). This means Gaza existed long ago. This City was mighty as its name meant, with its wall like the wall of Jericho.
In the beginning, according to the holy scripture, the first people or indigenous people who lived in Gaza City were the Avvim people, then were killed, destroyed, and settled in their place by the Capthor (Deuteronomy 2:23).
There are several theories about the whereabouts of the Capthorim people. However, one thing we know for sure is that the Capthorim were the ancestors of the Philistine people, as mentioned in holy scripture (Genesis 10:13-14, Jeremiah 47:4, Amos 9:7). The most widely accepted theory suggests that Capthor is located in Greece or Crete, indicating that the Philistines originated from Europe rather than Arabia. According to the YouTube channel Jawaban, the Palestinian people are not the original inhabitants of Canaan. From 1500 to 1200 B.C., the Philistines settled in Canaan and established a city named Pentapolis, which means five cities: Aschkalon, Gath, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gaza (Joshua 12:2-3, Jeremiah 25:30).
The Palestinian people living in Gaza now are not the Philistinians mentioned in the holy scripture, which means Palestinians are not Philistines. During the time of Caesar Traianus Hadrianus, who ruled Jerusalem after its downfall, he showed remarkable tolerance towards the Jewish community and even developed a close relationship with them. However, despite the Jews' proposal to rebuild Jerusalem, Hadrian refused to accept their recommendation. Not only that, but he also brought idol gods into the city of Jerusalem. This makes the Jews rebel against Caesar Hadrianus. Hadrian responded by exterminating the Jews and wanted to hurt the hearts of the Jews by changing the name of Jerusalem, the capital and all of the region at that time, to something that related to the same name as the name of Philistine because he knew that the Jews and the Philistines were mortal enemies with each other. Since then, all of Canaan's land has been renamed to Syria-Philistine.
There is a relationship between Palestine and the Philistines, but the people are different now than before. Palestine was named after the Philistines, which is why there are Jews and other races and religions as Palestinians. This is interesting from the perspective of history; the Philistines owned Gaza, and now it is owned by Palestine.
While the Israelis wanted to go to Canaan from Egypt (at the same time, the Philistines already reigned part of Canaan and developed the Pentapolis, one of which is Gaza), at that time, Canaan was a land God promised for Abraham and his descendants. Why must Canaan? This refers to Noah's words after waking up from drunkenness and learning what his youngest son, Ham, had done to him. Noah cursed Ham’s son, Canaan, and blessed his other sons, Shem and Japheth.
The Israelis under Joshua led the Israelis to take the land that was promised to them. Hence, the Israelis mapped the land of Canaan for each tribe of Israel except the tribe of Levi. The tribe of Judah they were given to one of the pentapolises, which is Gaza (Joshua 15:20,47). During that time, the Philistines were in control of Gaza. It was evident that a significant conflict had arisen. One can only imagine the anger and frustration the situation would have caused if it had happened to them. This marked the beginning of their conflict. This conflict became hotter when Joshua died and the beginning of the Judges age. At the Judges age, many conflicts occurred until the Judah tribe and the Philistines started war; Gaza was conquered but not totally (Judges 1:18-19). The conflict and battles continued in an endless cycle. Whenever the Israelis worshipped their God, He heard them and helped them win the war. However, when they turned away from God, they would lose battles against other nations, including the Philistines (Judges 13). One of them was Samson, who had extraordinary strength, but in the end, he also died, and the Philistines governed Israel.
In the age of Prophet Samuel, Israel was still in the hands of the Philistines until a Prophet and a King, David, emerged and killed Goliath (1 Samuel 17:1,4,50). Until then, Israel governed Gaza under the King David Rules (1 Kings 4:24). Then the kingdom of Israel split into two: Jehudah and the kingdom of Israel. After King Solomon, son of King David, died, there were several battles, and Gaza was back to its circle where the Philistines and Israel were the rulers, changing from war to war. Until King Hezekiah, king of Israel, won the battle with the Philistines and ruled Gaza again (2 Kings 18:8). This circle continued until the Kingdom of Assyria exterminated Israel, and the kingdom of Jehudah was eliminated and cast to Babylon by the kingdom of Babylon. At the same time, many different domains conquered and ruled Gaza. Start 730 B.C. Gaza was ruled by the Assyria (now Iran), and in 609 B.C. Egypt came and won the war against Assyria, then ruled Gaza (Jeremiah 47:1). Then, from 587 to 586, Babylon came and ruled Gaza and Jerusalem (kingdom of Judah) (Jeremiah 25:8,9,20).
After Israel and Philistine back and forth ruled Gaza, Gaza was then ruled by Assyria, then Egypt and the last was ruled by Babylon. The story of Gaza and the Philistines in the holy scripture ends here.
After all, I want all of us to pray for Palestine-Israel’s peace, pray for the Israeli families who mourned for loved ones who were killed or taken hostage, pray for the believers in Gaza who are caught in the middle of the conflict, ask God to protect innocent people during this conflict, pray for open doors partners in the Holy Land, and pray for those who have been driven out of their homes.