Gath
Posted
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
by
Charlie Trimm
Categories:
Old Testament
Our tour of the coastal plain continues with a visit to Gath, the hometown of Goliath. Gath was one of the five major Philistine cities and one of the two inland Philistine cities. It so happens that the three oceanside cities are still occupied today while the two inland cities are deserted and there has actually been extensive debate about whether these sites are accurate or not. Gath occupied an important place between the coastal road and the Shephelah, the lowlands entrance to Judah. The view from the top of Gath is superb, as one can see in all four directions a fairly significant distance (although there is a constant haze in Israel). Gath played a role in the Ark narrative in 1 Samuel. David's boss lived there(1 Samuel 27), but David later returned and took the city (1 Chronicles 18:1). It was eventually taken by Aram (2 Kings 12:17) and Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26).
This is the view of Gath from the north. The day we went to Gath was the Israeli Independence Day and all the parks were full of picnicers. In order to get to Gath one has to drive through a park, which meant that it took quite a while to get there. One also has to know where they are going, because there are no signs to get to Gath. The last stretch we had to get out of the car and walk up the hill.
This is looking north from the top of Gath. That wooded area is the national park with all the picnicers.
Looking west from Gath. One can almost kind of see the Sea in the distance. The truck kept on trying to drive up the hill but never did succeed in anything except beating up the truck.
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