Gederoth

Gederoth is a town of Judah's lowland (Shephelah), named in the tribal allotment under Joshua and again centuries later when the Philistines pressed eastward into Judah during the reign of Ahaz.

A Lowland City of Judah

The town appears in the Joshua city-list for the Shephelah of Judah, grouped with Beth-dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah: "and Gederoth, Beth-dagon, and Naamah, and Makkedah; sixteen cities with their villages" (Jos 15:41). The setting is the western lowland between the hill country and the Philistine plain — a strip of fortified Judahite towns guarding the approaches from the coast.

Lost to the Philistines under Ahaz

In Ahaz's day the same lowland belt is overrun. The Chronicler reports that "The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the lowland, and of the South of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, and Aijalon, and Gederoth, and Soco with its towns, and Timnah with its towns, Gimzo also and its towns: and they dwelt there" (2Ch 28:18). Gederoth stands in the same lowland register as in Joshua, now changing hands as Judah's frontier collapses.