Ekron
עֶקְרוֹן
Where was biblical Ekron? At Tel Miqne, beside Kibbutz Revadim, about 35 km west of Jerusalem. I mark it certain.
The captured Ark reached Ekron, and the people cried out that it had been brought to kill them. The Philistine lords sent it home on a cart pulled by two nursing cows.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Tel Miqne, beside Kibbutz Revadim
- How sure
- Certain The name, the sources and the finds all agree.
- Other names
- Accaron, Tel Miqne, Khirbet el-Muqanna, Amqar, Assyrian
- Location
- 31.7787° N, 34.8501° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
Here the ground gave the answer. In 1996 excavators working in a temple on the tel found a royal dedication inscription. It names the city, Ekron, and its king, Achish son of Padi. Both kings are also known from Assyrian records. Very few biblical cities have been named by an inscription found in place. This is one of them.
Before that, the obvious guess was the Arab village of 'Aqir, near Rehovot, which kept the name. But 'Aqir has no city from the Iron Age. Tel Miqne does, the largest in the area, and its layers tell the story in order. A Canaanite town was destroyed. A Philistine city rose on the spot in the 12th century BCE. By the 7th century it was an olive oil town with over a hundred presses. Then Nebuchadnezzar ended it.
The location fits as well. Ekron was the northernmost of the five Philistine cities, right on the border with Judah. From here the cows took the Sorek Valley road straight up to Beit Shemesh, with the lords following behind.
Ekron's god made it into the Bible too. When King Ahaziah of Israel fell ill, he sent messengers to ask Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether he would recover.
Visiting today
Tel Miqne is an open, unfenced mound by Kibbutz Revadim with little to see on the surface. The royal inscription is on display in the Israel Museum.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Ekron on the interactive map →
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- Timnah 6 km east
- Gath 9 km south
- Gezer 11 km northeast
- Azekah 12 km southeast
- Beth Shemesh 12 km east
- Zorah (Tzorah) 13 km east