Gezer

Gezer is a Canaanite royal city on the western edge of the central hill country, sitting on the boundary between the Joseph allotment and the coastal plain. Scripture follows the city across centuries: a defeated Canaanite kingdom, a stubborn pocket of unexpelled inhabitants in Ephraim's territory, a Levitical city, a battlefield against Philistine giants, and finally a fortress refurbished by Solomon after Pharaoh's daughter brought it into Israel as a wedding gift.

A Canaanite Royal City Defeated by Joshua

Gezer enters the narrative as a Canaanite city-state whose king takes the field against Israel and loses. During the southern campaign, when Joshua's army is besieging Lachish, "Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish; and Joshua struck him and his people, until he had left him none remaining" (Jos 10:33). The roll of conquered Canaanite kings later names him among the rest: "the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one" (Jos 12:12).

On the Border of Ephraim

Gezer marks a boundary point of the Joseph allotment. The line of Ephraim "went down westward to the border of the Japhletites, to the border of Beth-horon the nether, even to Gezer; and the goings out of it were at the sea" (Jos 16:3). The Chronicler, recounting Ephraim's habitations, locates the city in the same direction: "their possessions and habitations were Beth-el and its towns, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer, with its towns; Shechem also and its towns, to Ayyah and its towns" (1Ch 7:28).

The Canaanites Not Driven Out

Although Gezer falls within Ephraim's allotment, its Canaanite population is not cleared. Joshua records the failure plainly: "And they did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and have become slave labor" (Jos 16:10). The catalogue in Judges of incomplete conquests repeats the charge: "And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them" (Jud 1:29). Gezer becomes one of the standing examples of a tribe coexisting with the people it had been commanded to displace.

A Levitical City

Within the assignment of cities to the Levites, Gezer is given to the Kohathites alongside Shechem: "And they gave them Shechem with its suburbs in the hill-country of Ephraim — the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Gezer with its suburbs" (Jos 21:21). The same place that was a Canaanite holdout is, on paper, a Levitical pasture-town.

Wars With the Philistines

In David's wars, Gezer is the site of a clash with Philistine giants. The Chronicler reports: "And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines: then Sibbecai the Hushathite slew Sippai, of the sons of the giant; and they were subdued" (1Ch 20:4). The parallel in 2 Samuel records the same engagement at the alternate place-name listed for Gezer in older sources: "And it came to pass after this, that there was again war with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbecai the Hushathite slew Saph, who was of the sons of the giant" (2Sa 21:18).

Pharaoh's Capture and Solomon's Rebuilding

Gezer changes hands again in Solomon's day, this time through Egyptian conquest and a royal marriage. "Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burned it with fire, and slain the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and given it for a portion to his daughter, Solomon's wife" (1Ki 9:16). Solomon then folds the burnt city into his fortification program: the labor force "King Solomon raised, to build the house of Yahweh, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer" (1Ki 9:15). Of the rebuilt towns the record states simply, "And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether" (1Ki 9:17). The Canaanite royal city, once unsubdued by Ephraim and burned by Pharaoh, ends as a stone in Solomon's defensive ring around the kingdom.