EKRON . A city in the Philistine Pentapolis, not conquered by Joshua ( Joshua 13:3 ), but theoretically a border city of Judah ( Joshua 15:11 ) and Dan ( Joshua 19:43 ); said, in a passage which is probably an interpolation, to have been smitten by Judah ( Judges 1:18 ). Hither the captured ark was brought from Ashdod ( 1 Samuel 5:10 ), and on its restoration the Philistine lords who had followed it to Beth-shemesh returned to Ekron ( 1 Samuel 6:16 ). Ekron was the border town of a territory that passed in the days of Samuel from the Philistines to Israel ( 1 Samuel 7:14 ), and it was the limit of the pursuit of the Philistines after the slaying of Goliath by David ( 1 Samuel 17:52 ). Its local numen was Baal-zebub, whose oracle Ahaziah consulted after his accident ( 2 Kings 1:2 ). Like the other Philistine cities, it is made the subject of denunciation by Jeremiah, Amos, Zephaniah, and the anonymous prophet whose writing occupies Zechariah 9:1-17; Zechariah 10:1-12; Zechariah 11:1-17 . This city is commonly identified with ‘Akir , a village on the Philistine plain between Gezer and the sea, where there is now a Jewish colony. For the identification there is no basis, except the coincidence of name; there are no remains of antiquity whatever at ‘Akir .
R. A. S. Macalister.