What is…
Ekron

Hebrew: עֶקְרוֹן —meaning: firm-rooted

also known as: Accaron and Tel Miqne

This was the most northerly of the 5 chief city-states (a pentapolis) belonging to the kings of the Philistines, about 11 miles north of Gath.

It was assigned to the descendants of Judah (Joshua 13:3; 15:11, 45), and afterwards to Dan (19:43), but came again into the full possession of the Philistines (1 Samuel 5:10).

Ekron had satellite towns and villages (Joshua 15:45) and a major olive oil industry dating to at least the 7th century B.C. More than 100 large ancient olive presses can still be seen in Ekron today—“the most complete olive oil production center from ancient times to be discovered.”

Ekron was the last place to which the Philistines carried the captured ark before they sent it back to Israel (1 Samuel 5:10; 6:1-8).

Ekron was noted for its heathen temple sanctuary to Baal-zebub (Baalzebub), also called Beelzebub (2 Kings 1:2-3, 6, 16).

The ruins of the palace of Khorsabad contain King Sargon II wall reliefs depicting his siege of Ekron in 712 B.C. and mentioning the city’s name. Ekron is also mentioned on monuments in 702 B.C., when Sennacherib set free its king, imprisoned by Hezekiah in Jerusalem, according to the Assyrian record. Under Assyria’s dominion, Ekron again became a powerful city-state. Later in 604 B.C., King Nebuchadnezzer II destroyed Ekron. Its destruction was prophecied in Zephaniah 2:4.

“Ekron will be uprooted” (NASB)

Ekron was reclaimed for the descendants of Judah (the Jews)by the modern State of Israel in 1948.

Due to the 1996 discovery of a stone tablet called the Ekron Royal Dedicatory Inscription, found in temple ruins, the site of ancient Ekron was positively identified at Tell Miqne (Tell Mikne), near the modern city of Kiryat Ekron, Israel (founded 1948 as Kfar Ekron) that is located on the site of an Arab village called Aqir (Akir). The tell mound is about 11 miles (18 kilometers) “north of Tell es-Safi, the almost certain site of the Philistine city of Gath.”

Satellite view of modern Kiryat Ekron, Israel
Tel Makna Akron excavation site—satellite view

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Article Version: September 22, 2021