Judges 16:1

Judges 16:1-3. Samson at Gaza

1 .Gaza The most southerly of the Philistine cities, and far from the scene of Samson's other adventures. Long before the Philistines arrived Gaza is mentioned in Egyptian lists (e.g. in the time of Thothmes III), and in the Amarna letters. As it lay at the meeting-point of the caravan-routes from Egypt and the Arabian desert, it was always an important centre; the kind of place where bad characters might be found. In Hebr. the name is -Azza, with the hard -ayinrepresented in Assyr. by ḫ(hence Ḫazzatu), in Greek by g(hence Gaza); now Ghazze or Razze.