Judges 1:29

Cf. Joshua 16:10.

Gezer An ancient Canaanite city mentioned in the list of Thothmes III, in the -Israel Inscription" of Merenptah (see Ency. Bibl.1242), and as Gazriin the Amarna tablets (163 etc.), situated on the S.W. border of Ephraim (Joshua 16:3), near the Philistine territory (2 Samuel 5:25). It remained Canaanite until conquered by Pharaoh Shishak, who gave it to his daughter, Solomon's wife (1 Kings 9:16). Solomon rebuilt the city as a frontier fortress against the Philistines (1 Kings 9:15; 1 Kings 9:17). It was an important place during the Maccabaean wars (Gazara, 1Ma 4:15; 1Ma 9:52; 1Ma 14:34; 1Ma 15:28; 1Ma 15:35 etc.). The site, = the mod. Tell el-Jezer, a little S. of the Jaffa-Jerusalem road and 13 m. from Jerusalem, was recovered by Clermont-Ganneau in 1871. Several bilingual inscriptions in Hebr. and Gk. have been found near the Tell containing the words "boundary of Gezer [Hebr.]: of Alkios [Gk.]," supposed to refer to the sabbatic limits and the local governor who thus defined them. See Cl.-Ganneau, Rec. d'arch. Orientaleiii. §§ 25, 47. The excavations recently conducted on the site have thrown much light on the past history of Canaan; seven strata of successive occupations have been ascertained; the area of the Canaanite temple or high place, much pottery, and, in the Israelite stratum, the bones of infants built into the foundations of houses (cf. 1 Kings 16:34), and what has been identified as Solomon's work of fortification, are among the most important discoveries; see Palest. Explor. Fund Qtly. Statementsfor 1903, and Driver, Schweich Lectures, pp. 46 59.

in Gezer among them Joshua 16:10 b reads -in the midst of Ephraim unto this day and became subject to forced labour," probably representing the original form of J; cf. Judges 1:28; Judges 1:30; Judges 1:33; Judges 1:35.