Azekah
Aze'kah (Hebrews Azekah', עֲזֵקָה, dug over; Sept. in Jos 15:35, Ι᾿αζηκά Jer 34:7, ῎Αζηκα; elsewhere Α᾿ζηκά), a town in the plain of Judah (Jos 15:35; 1Sa 17:1). It had suburban villages (Ne 11:30), and was a place of considerable strength (Jer 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 (Jos 10:10-11). It is named with Adullam, Shaaraim, and other places known to have been in that locality (Jos 15:35; 2Ch 11:9; Ne 11:30), but is most clearly defined as being near Shochoh (that is, the northern one) [see SHOCHOHM
(1Sa 17:1). Joshua's pursuit of the Canaanites after the battle of Beth-horon extended to Azekah (Jos 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 (1Sa 17:1). It was among the cities fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:9), was still standing at the time of the invasion of the kings of Babylon (Jer 34:7), and is mentioned as one of the places reoccupied by the Jews after their return from captivity (Ne 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 Jos 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).
