The famous Dagon, or the "Fish-god," who had a temple at Gaza (Judges xvi. 21-5), was a national, and not merely a local god among the Philistines. During the Maccabean wars Jonathan destroyed the temple of Dagon at Azotus (1 Macc. x. 84). He was eminently the god of agriculture. 9. 1 Samuel vi. 17.--_The golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD ... for Gaza one._ During the "seven months" the sacred chest was, no doubt, located in each of the five Philistine cities, in the Dagon temple, which each of the cities possessed. The god Dagon was worshipped at Gaza and Ashdod, and the goddess Derketo at Askelon. It has been assumed that the two divinities were akin. According to Lucian, Derketo was worshipped under the form of a woman with the body and tail of a fish, fish being sacred to her, and was probably identical with Atargatis, in 2 Macc. xii. 26. Hence Dagon was supposed to have been the male counterpart of Derketo. This view, however, Prof. Sayce now repudiates, preferring to regard Dagon as a purely agricultural deity. 10. 2 Kings xviii. 8.--_Hezekiah smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof._ The entire land of Philistia was ravaged by the Judæan forces. After continual wars under the Judges, with Saul (1 Sam. xiv. 52, xxxi. 1), and David (2 Sam. v. 17-25), the Philistines appear to have been subdued by the latter, and Gaza became the border of Solomon's kingdom "on this side of the river" (1 Kings iv. 21, 24). In verse 24 Azzah, or rather ‘Azza, is the more correct spelling of Gaza. There is a reference to Gaza under the name of Azzah in Deut. ii. 23, and 1 Chron. vii. 28 (R.V.). With this exception the R.V. adopts the reading Gaza. In Joshua xv. 47 "the river of Egypt" (A.V.) refers to the desert stream, one mile wide, which still occasionally flows in the valley called El Arîsh, twelve hours' ride south of Gaza. Palm trees are abundant in the bed of this torrent. See Gen. xv. 18; Joshua xv. 4; 1 Kings viii. 65; Is. xxvii. 12. 11. 1 Chronicles vii. 28.--_And their possessions were ... unto Gaza and the towns thereof._ The passage refers to Ephraim's habitations, but this is a doubtful reading. The Revised Version of the Old Testament reads _Azza_, in the margin _Ayyah_. 12. Jeremiah xxv. 17-20.--_Then took I the cup at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me: to wit ... all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod._ The words describe the act of the prophet as in the ecstasy of vision. One by one the nations are made to drink of the cup of the wrath of Jehovah. Among them are four of the cities of the Philistines, including Gaza. 13. Jeremiah xlvii. 1.--_The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza._