Azekah

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Joshua 10:10 Joshua 10:12 Joshua 15:35 1 Samuel 17:1 2 Chronicles 11:9 Nehemiah 11:30 Jeremiah 34:7

Later tradition connected Azekah with the tomb of the prophet Zechariah and then with Zechariah the father of John the Baptist, to whom a large church was dedicated. Thus the Madeba map from about 550 A.D. calls Azekah, “Beth Zechariah,” or “house of Zechariah” and pictures a large church there.

Azekah is located at tell Zakariya five and one half miles northeast of Beth Govrin above the Valley of Elah. Excavations show the site was occupied before 3000 B.C. and had a strong fortress in the period of the judges.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Azekah ( A-Zç'Kah ), Dug Over, Broken, Up. A place to which Joshua's pursuit of the Amorites extended after the battle for the relief of Gibeon.  Joshua 10:10-11. It stood in the plain country of Judah, to which tribe it was allotted.  Joshua 15:35. In later times we find the Philistines pitching near it,  1 Samuel 17:1; it was fortified by Rehoboam,  2 Chronicles 11:9, and was one of the last towns taken by Nebuchadnezzar in Zedekiah's reign before Jerusalem fell.  Jeremiah 34:7. It was again inhabited after the return from captivity.  Nehemiah 11:30.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

City in the plain of Judah with adjacent villages, near Shochoh, the scene of one of Joshua's victories. It was fortified by Rehoboam, and was in existence at the time of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion. The Jews inhabited it after the return.  Joshua 10:10,11;  Joshua 15:35;  1 Samuel 17:1;  2 Chronicles 11:9;  Nehemiah 11:30;  Jeremiah 34:7 . Identified with Tell Zahariya 34 55' E 31 42' N .

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

From a root, "to until the ground." A town of Judah, with dependent villages, in the Shephelah , the low hills of Judah, near Shochoh ( 1 Samuel 17:1;  Joshua 15:35). Fortified by Rehoboam ( 2 Chronicles 11:9;  Nehemiah 11:30). Assailed by the king of Babylon ( Jeremiah 34:7). Ganneau fixes it at Ellar, half way between Jerusalem and Beit Jibrin; Conder at Deir el Aashek (the monastery of the lover), S. of Sorek valley, eight miles N. of Shochoh (Shuweikeh). A road leads to it from Elah valley.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A town in the tribe of Judah, about fifteen miles south-west of Jerusalem; mentioned in the narratives of Joshua and Saul,  Joshua 10:10;  1 Samuel 17:1; taken by Nebuchadnezzar,  Jeremiah 34:7 , but afterwards repeopled by the Jews,  Nehemiah 11:30 .

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

AZEKAH . A city of Judah (  Joshua 10:10 f.,   1 Samuel 17:1 ,   2 Chronicles 11:9 ,   Nehemiah 11:30 ), near the Valley of Elah; inhabited by the Jews after the Captivity. Site unknown.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Aze'kah. (Dugover). A town of Judah, with dependent villages, lying in the Shefelah or rich agricultural plain. It is most clearly defined as being near Shochoh,  1 Samuel 17:1, but its position has not yet been recognized.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Joshua 15:35 Nehemiah 11:30

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Hebrews Azekah', עֲזֵקָה , Dug Over; Sept. in  Joshua 15:35, Ι᾿Αζηκά  Jeremiah 34:7, ῎Αζηκα ; elsewhere Ἀζηκά ), a town in the plain of Judah ( Joshua 15:35;  1 Samuel 17:1). It had suburban villages ( Nehemiah 11:30), and was a place of considerable strength ( Jeremiah 34:7). The confederated Amoritish kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon, were here defeated and slain by Joshua, and their army totally destroyed by an extraordinary shower of hailstones from heaven ( Joshua 10:10-11). It is named with Adullam, Shaaraim, and other places known to have been in that locality ( Joshua 15:35;  2 Chronicles 11:9;  Nehemiah 11:30), but is most clearly defined as being near Shochoh (that is, the northern one) [(See Shochohm) ( 1 Samuel 17:1). Joshua's pursuit of the Canaanites after the battle of Beth-horon extended to Azekah ( Joshua 10:10-11).

Between Azekah and Shochoh, an easy step out of their own territory, the Philistines encamped before the battle in which Goliath was killed ( 1 Samuel 17:1). It was among the cities fortified by Rehoboam ( 2 Chronicles 11:9), was still standing at the time of the invasion of the kings of Babylon ( Jeremiah 34:7), and is mentioned as one of the places reoccupied by the Jews after their return from captivity ( Nehemiah 11:30). Eusebius and Jerome state (Onomast. s.v.) that there was in their time a town in this quarter called Ezeca, situated between Jerusalem and Eleutheropolis, which was probably the same as that mentioned by Joshua (see Reland, Palest. p. 603). According to Schwarz (Palest. p. 102), it is represented by the modern village Tell Ezakaria, three miles east of Saphia or Alba Specula; but this appears rather to be from the name Zechariah (Tell Zachariya, Robinson's Researches, 2, 343). The notices would correspond better to the present Zaakuka, marked on Zimmermann's Map a little to the north-east of Beit-Jibrin (Eleutheropolis); but that is in the hill country, beyond the Jerusalem road, which was the boundary of the group in  Joshua 15:35. See Tribe Van de Velde (Memoir, p. 291) seems to have fixed its site as that of a village on a high hill-top called Ahbek, about 1.5 miles N. of Daman, and between 4 and 5 miles E.N.E. of Shuweikeh (Robinson, Researches, 2, 342 note).

Dr. Tristram (Bible Places, p. 44) thinks this is " probably the modern Deir el-Ashek," which the Ordnance Map lays down as Deir elA shek, a deserted locality on a slight eminence a mile and a quarter south-west of Wady Surar, and seven miles northwest of Shuweikeh (Socoh), containing the remains of. a church and traces of other ruins; but, aside from the tolerable agreement in name, there is little to commend this identification.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

a - zē´ka עזקה , ‛ăzēḳāh ̌ : A town of some importance in the Shephelah of Judah mentioned ( Joshua 15:35 ) next to Socoh. In  Joshua 10:10 the defeated kings of the Arnorites are described as flying before Joshua "by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon ... to Azekah, and unto Makkedah" and (verse 11) as the host fled "Yahweh cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died." In   1 Samuel 17:1 it is recorded that before David's combat with Goliath, the Philistines "gathered together at Socoh, which belongeth to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammin." In   2 Chronicles 11:9 it is mentioned as one of the frontier cities which Rehoboam fortified and in   Jeremiah 34:7 it is one of the two fortified cities remaining to Judah in the Shephelah which Nebuchadnezzar was besieging. "Azekah and the towns (margin, "daughters") thereof" is mentioned among the cities reoccupied by Jews returning after the Exile (  Nehemiah 11:30 ). In all the three last references the place is mentioned along with Lachish.

All the data suit Tell Zaḳarēyeh on the North side of the Vale of Elah ( Wâdy es - Sunṭ ) and some 3 miles Northwest of Socoh ( Kh . Shuweikeh ). This site, which was partially excavated by the Palestine Exploration Fund , is one of great natural strength. "The hill stands almost isolated, rising abruptly for almost 350 ft. above the Vale of Elah;... to the West the fall is also very great, while to the South the tell is joined by a neck of land (about 100 ft. below the summit) to a hill behind." The summit is about 350 yds. by 150 yds., and is much larger than Tell el - Ḥesy (Lachish) (Bliss). Excavations showed that it was a very ancient site which had been powerfully fortified, and the rock under the city was excavated in a series of very extraordinary underground chambers which could be used as places of refuge. The site suits the narrative of Joshua's battle every well, as there is a long-used high route running North to South from the neighborhood of Ajalon. Its position as a frontier fortress is comparable with that of Lachish: the name Zaḳarēyeh , seems to be a survival of Azekah. See PEFS , 1899, 10ff; PEF , III, 441.