Go to Calneh, and see; And from there go to Hamath the great; Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms? Or is their border greater than your border?
Since the Philistines carried the ark of God from Ashdod to Gath, and thence to Ekron 1Sa 5:8, 1 Samuel 5:10, it seems likely that Gath lay nearer to Ashdod than Ekron, although necessarily more inland than either, since it was a border-city to Judah. The Tel-es-Safiyeh corresponds with these conditions, lying at the entrance of the Shephelah, about 5 miles from Beit-Jibrin on the road to Lydda, (Ludd). It “rises about 100 feet above the eastern ridge which it terminates, and perhaps 200 over the plain which terminates its western base. The ruins and subterranean reservoirs shew that it is a site of high antiquity, great strength, and importance.” Gath had at this time probably been taken by Uzziah who “broke down” its “wall” 2 Chronicles 26:6; and since it is not mentioned with the other four Philistine cities, whose sentence is pronounced by Amos Amos 1:7-8 himself, Zephaniah Zephaniah 2:4, and Zechariah Zechariah 9:5, it is probable that it never recovered.