The denunciations of Ekron in the prophetic books help us very little in the solution of the problem. But there is a suggestive hint in the opening verses of 2 Kings. Ahaziah having met with an accident sent to inquire of Baal-zebub 'lord of flies', the god of Ekron, as to his prospects of recovery. When we find that less than a couple of miles from Dhikerin there is a village bearing the name of Deir edh-Dhubhān, 'the convent of the flies', we feel some
justification in asking, can it be that Baal-zebub still rules his ancient lordship?
The land of the Philistines, dominated by these five cities, has been so often described that it is needless to waste space in an account of it. Briefly, we may say that whoever held that part of the country was at an enormous advantage. With the possible exception of the plain of Esdraelon, it is the most fertile land in Western Palestine. Though there are few perennial streams, water can be found wherever one chooses to dig for it. Through it runs the great trade-route from Egypt by Damascus to Babylon. The mart of Gaza is the natural rendezvous of all who have commerce with Arabia. The seaports of Southern Palestine are all commanded, as are the valleys which are the doorways to the Hinterland: so that the coast dwellers can engage in commerce on their own account, while at the same time they can control the progress and civilization among the aliens in the interior. When we stand on some eminence that commands this rich strip of territory we find it easy to understand the bitterness with which through the centuries the Hebrews regarded the Philistines.
71:1 So a sentry-station was established on a hill some way S. of Gezer: see my Excavation of Gezer, vol. ii, p. 365.
71:2 It has been suggested that this took place not at Ashkelon, but at a small site in the valley of Elah called Khurbet (= ruin) ‘Asḳalân. This is certainly nearer to Timnath, but there are here no traceable remains older than the Roman period.
72:1 A description of the remains at Ashkelon, with a plan, will be found in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund for January 1913.
73:1 See Sepp, Jerusalem and das heilige Land, vol. ii, p. 598.
75:1 Neubauer, Geog. d. Talm. p. 71.
76:1 Meyer, Gesch. d. Alterthums, i, p. 358, suggests from Jer. vii. 14, that Shiloh was destroyed. But the space of time between Samuel and Jeremiah is so long, that many unrecorded events might have taken place in the meanwhile: and, indeed, Shiloh is still an important sanctuary in 1 Sam. xiv. 3.