AZEKAH

(A·zeʹkah) [perhaps hoed ground].

A city in the Shephelah region, guarding the upper reaches of the Valley of Elah. Libnah, about five miles (8 kilometers) to the W on the Plains of Philistia, dominated the entrance to the valley. The site is identified as Tell ez-Zakariyeh.

The first mention of the city occurs at Joshua 10:5-11 with regard to the combined attack of five Canaanite kings against Gibeon. Joshua and his army, coming to the relief of Gibeon, chased the Canaanitish armies “as far as Azekah and Makkedah,” a distance of over twenty miles (32 kilometers). The city was thereafter assigned to the tribe of Judah.—Josh. 15:20, 35.

During the reign of King Saul (1117-1077 B.C.E.) the Philistines massed their forces between Socoh and Azekah, putting forth Goliath as their champion. When the Israelites arrived, the two armies faced each other across the Valley of Elah until David’s surprise victory over Goliath put the Philistines to flight.—1 Sam. 17:1-53.

At the division of the nation following Solomon’s death (997 B.C.E.), King Rehoboam of Judah fortified Azekah along with Lachish and other strategic cities. (2 Chron. 11:5-10) Excavations made at Tell ez-Zakariyeh reveal the remains of walls and towers and evidence of a fortified citadel at the location’s highest point.

When Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian troops overran the kingdom of Judah (609-607 B.C.E.), Azekah and Lachish were the last two fortified cities to fall before the overthrow of Jerusalem itself. (Jer. 34:6, 7) Apparent confirmation of this was revealed by the discovery of the inscribed ostraca called the “Lachish Letters,” one of them containing the following message, evidently directed by a military outpost to the military commander at Lachish, which reads in part: “. . . we are watching for the signal-stations of Lachish, according to all the signs which my lord gives, because we do not see Azekah.” If, as seems to be the case, this letter was written at the time of the Babylonian attack it would indicate that Azekah had already fallen so that no signals were being received from that fortress.

Following the seventy-year period of desolation of the land, Azekah was one of the cities resettled by the returning Jewish exiles.—Neh. 11:25, 30.