1 Samuel 5:8

all the lords of the Philistines A peculiar term Serenis used exclusively to denote the five -lords" who ruled in the five cities of the Philistine confederacy. In all probability it preserves their native title. They had all equal rights, for though Achish is called "kingof Gath" in ch. 1 Samuel 21:10; 1 Samuel 27:2, this is only from a foreign point of view, and he could not overrule the decision of his colleagues (1 Samuel 29:6-11). Here we find one city appealing to the rest for counsel in the calamity which had befallen it.

unto Gath Gath may have been chosen because there was no Dagon-temple there, the Philistines attributing the plague to the antagonism between Jehovah and Dagon.

The site of Gath cannot be fixed with certainty, but Mr Porter and Lieut. Conder agree in the conclusion that it probably stood on the conspicuous hill now called Tell-es-Sâfi, 12 miles E. of Ashdod, at the foot of the mountains of Judah. "The position is one of immense strength, guarding the mouth of the valley of Elah." Hence its importance as a border fortress, commanding one of the main approaches from Philistia to Judaea. It was captured by David (1 Chronicles 18:1), fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:8), taken by Hazael (2 Kings 12:17), retaken and dismantled by Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:6). There is no further notice of it in the Bible: but the Crusaders occupied Tell-es-Sâfi, and built the fortress of Blanche Garde upon it.

Gath was the native place of Goliath (ch. 1 Samuel 17:4): and the refuge of David from the persecutions of Saul (ch. 1 Samuel 21:10; 1 Samuel 27:3).