Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon left in ruins. At midday Ashdod will be emptied and Ekron uprooted. – Zephaniah 2:4

Today's Scripture Reading (June 20, 2026): Zephaniah 2

It is often hard to read what the Bible says about Gaza without thinking about the current situation of this tiny strip of land on the east side of the Mediterranean Sea. From our place in time, we look at the Gaza Strip and see an area in ruins, although it has definitely not been abandoned. But if we go back to the original Hebrew, we discover something important. Few translators have tried to keep the poetic structure of this passage. There is a bit of a rhyme that Zephaniah is working toward, which is not reflected in "Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon left in ruins." John Robert Dummelow (1860-1909) attempted to reflect this poetry into English with "Gaza shall be a ghastly ruin; and Ashkelon a deserted ash-heap" (John Robert Dummelow). The poetic connection is between "Gaza and ghastly" and "Ashkelon and ash-heap." (It is the kind of poetry that President Trump likes to use against his enemies, changing a name into an insult.) As a result, the concepts of desolation and damage are at the forefront of Zephaniah's mind.

Experts continue to debate the era to which this prophecy is addressed. Traditionally, it has been thought that Zephaniah was speaking of a Scythian invasion in the 3^rd or 4^th Century B.C.E. We know that, late in the Scythian Empire, they attempted to pass through Palestine on their way to Egypt. But reports from that time suggest that the Egyptians sent their army north into Palestine and convinced the Scythians to turn around and head home.

The second portion of the verse argues that the defeat of the Philistine cities on this tiny strip of land came quickly. The Mesha Stele, dating from the 9^th Century B.C.E., details King Mesha of Moab's victories over Israel and employs similar language to suggest a swift victory. "I fought against it from the break of day till noon, and I took it" (Mesha Stele). All of this leaves us with either a fight of the Philistine cities against Assyria, or maybe Babylon. Both empires swept through the area before laying siege to Jerusalem.

However, especially given the events in that area of the world today, the importance may not lie in when these cities fell in fulfillment of Zephaniah's words, but in what happens next. Zephaniah foretells of the fall of Gaza and her Philistine sisters, but also reminds his readers of a remnant who would rise to care for the area. "The land by the sea will become pastures having wells for shepherds and pens for flocks" (Zephaniah 2:6). It is long past time for there to be peace in the Middle East, and for the Gaza Strip to become the oasis it once was. Maybe who is less important than what. Maybe we can dream of a time when Palestinians and Israeli's combine to care for the land that God has given to them, in memory of the ghosts who still roam the land of Gaza and the cities of the Philistia.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Zephaniah 3