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Ekron was a settlement of the indigenous Canaanites. The Canaanite city had shrunk in the years before its main public building burned in the 13th century BC; it was refounded by Philistines at the beginning of the Iron Age, c. 1200s BC.
Ekron is mentioned in the Book of Joshua 13:2-3:
Josh. 3:13 counts it the border city of the Philistines and seat of one of the five Philistine city lords, and Josh. 15:11 mentions Ekron's satellite towns and villages. The city was reassigned afterwards to the tribe of Dan ( Daniel 19:43), but came again into the full possession of the Philistines. It was the last place to which the Philistines carried the ark before they sent it back to Israel ( 1 SamuelThe Books of Samuel are two books in the Hebrew Bible ( Tanakh) and the Old Testament. The Greek Septuagint translators regarded the books of Samuel and the Kings as forming one continuous history, which they divided into four books, which they called "Th 5:10; 6:1-8).
There was here a noted sanctuary of Baal. The Hebrews equated the city god ( BaalThis article is a discussion of Baal the deity; for Baal as a Christian or Jewish demon see Baal (demon). Baal Standard Hebrew Baal Tiberian Hebrew Baal / Baal is a northwest Semitic word signifying 'lord, master, owner (male), husband' cognate with Akkad 'the king') with ' BeelzebubBeelzebub (more accurately Baal Zebub or Baal Zbub , appears as the name of a god worshipped in the Philistine city of Ekron. It is later the name of a demon/devil, often interchanged with Beelzebul . Either form may appear as an alternate name for Satan: ( 2 KingsThe Books of Kings Sefer Melachim in Hebrew) are two books of the Jewish Tanakh and included by Christians in their Bible (the Old Testament). They contain accounts of the kings of ancient Israel and Judah. The two books of Kings comprise the fourth book 1): 'When AhaziahThis entry is not about King Ahaziah of Judah Ahaziah was king of Israel and the son of Ahab and Jezebel. Albright has dated his reign to 850 849 BC, while Thiele offers the dates 853 852 BC. The author of the Books of Kings criticized him for following t fell through the lattice in his upper chamber which [was] in Samaria, and became ill, he sent messengers to inquire of the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this sickness."
Non-Hebrew sources also refer to Ekron. The siege of Ekron in 712 BC is depicted on one of Sargon II's wall reliefs in his palace at KhorsabadKhorsabad Khursabad , village in Iraq, 15 km northeast of Mosul, with well-preserved ruins of the large, rectangular Dur-Sharrukin. Khorsabad was the seat of the Assyrian capital in the time of Sargon II. The site was excavated in 1842-44 as well as in 18, which names the city. Ekron revolted against Sennacherib and expelled Padi, his governor, who was sent to Hezekiah, at Jerusalem, for safe-keeping. Sennacherib marched against Ekron and the Ekronites called upon the aid of the king of 'Mutsri' Sennacherib turned aside to defeat this army, which he did at Eltekeh, and then returned and took the city by storm, put to death the leaders of the revolt and carried their adherents into captivity. This campaign led to the famous attack of Sennacherib on Hezekiah and Jerusalem, in which Sennacherib compelled Hezekiah to restore Padi, who was reinstated as governor at Ekron.
Ashdod and Ekron survived to become powerful city-states dominated by Assyria in the 7th century BC. The city may have been destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzer II around 603 BC, but it is mentioned, as 'Accaron,' as late as 1 Maccabees 10:89.