GEZER ge’ zər (גֶּ֖זֶר, LXX Γαζερα, Γαζηρ, Γαζηρα, once Γαδερ [Josh 12:13 A]). A major city of the northern Shephelah.

1. Discovery. The true site of Gezer was first identified by C. Clermont-Ganneau during 1870-1873. His investigations led him from Khulda to Tell el-Jezer beside the village of Abu Shusheh. In 1874, he found some bilingual inscrs. (Heb.-Gr.) on the rocks surrounding the tell that read ΑΛΚΙΟΥ תחם גזר, “the confines of Gezer, (of) Alkios.”

2. Location. Ancient Gezer was situated on the northwestern edge of the Shephelah. It commands a good view of “the plain of Ono” (Neh 6:2), across which passed the main N-S route of the Levant. The lateral trunk road leading into the hill country via Beth-horon led directly to Gezer before meeting the coastal route.

3. Excavation. Two major excavations were carried out by R. A. S. Macalister at Gezer in 1902-1905 and 1907-1909. A Rowe made a small sounding in 1934, but his finds have not been published. The Hebrew Union College—Biblical and Archeological School in Jerusalem—has recently begun a new series of excavations under the guidance of G. E. Wright, with W. G. Dever as director. The Chalcolithic, Early Bronze I, II, and III, and Middle Bronze II as well as the Late Bronze, Iron, Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman periods are all found at Gezer. From Macalister’s report it seems that the Solomonic age is not represented, but Y. Yadin has now shown that a true Solomonic gate had been mistaken by Macalister for part of a Hell. public building.

4. History

a. Canaanite period. Gezer is first mentioned in Thutmose III’s list of towns conquered (in his first campaign) in Canaan. The name is written q-dj-r (No. 104). Thutmose IV erected a stele in his funerary temple mentioning Khurri (Horite) prisoners from Gez[er] who were brought to Egypt (ANET, p. 248). A fragmentary cuneiform tablet found at Gezer has an enigmatic allusion to nearby Gittim (Gath or Gittaim) and has been linked by Albright, et al., with a campaign by Thutmose IV. Gezer and its princes played important roles in the intrigues among Canaanite cities during the Amarna age, e.g. the ruler of Gezer seems to have been a leader in the attempt by the ’apiru to seize the territories of other princes loyal to Pharaoh. He and his successors sought to occupy key towns guarding the approach routes to Jerusalem. Pharaoh Merneptah called himself “the reducer of Gezer”—a boast evidently based on his conquest of the city during a campaign depicted on his victory stele (ANET, p. 378).

b. Israelite period. During the conquest under Joshua, Israel defeated Horam, king of Gezer, when he came forth to support Lachish (Josh 10:33). Gezer’s relation to the ascent of Beth-horon is reflected in its being mentioned after the latter town as being on the border of allotment given to the sons of Joseph (Josh 16:3 [LXX vs. 5]). Gezer was given to Ephraim (1 Chron 7:28) who failed to expel the Canaanites (Josh 16:10; Judg 1:29); later the indigenous population was put to forced labor. The Levitical Kohathites were allotted Gezer as one of their cities in the Ephraimite tribal inheritance (Josh 21:21; 1 Chron 6:67 [MT 6:52]). After David established his capital at Jerusalem (Jebus), the Philistines tried to assert their authority over the hill country by means of the approach routes to Jerusalem, but David chased them as far as Gezer (2 Sam 5:25; 1 Chron 14:16). When Solomon came to power, Gezer was taken by the Egyptian Pharaoh and burned with fire (1 Kings 9:15-17); it was then given to Solomon as dowry for Pharaoh’s daughter. Solomon refortified it along with other major chariot cities and strategic towns, e.g. Hazor, Megiddo, Beth-horon, etc. The gates at Gezer were almost identical to those at Hazor and Megiddo; Hazor had a casemate wall in this period like that at Gezer, but Megiddo had a salients-and-recesses wall along with its stone houses in the Solomonic period (contra Yadin). When Pharaoh Shishak invaded the land in the fifth year of Rehoboam, he launched his drive into the hill country by attacking Gezer (no. 12 on his list); from there he was able to penetrate the uplands and threaten Jerusalem (1 Kings 14:25-28; 2 Chron 12:1-12).

Gezer does not appear in the history of the divided monarchy until its conquest by the Assyrian monarch Tiglath-pileser, either in his campaign against Philistia (734 b.c.) or his subsequent attack on Israel (733 b.c.). The Assyrian monarch left a relief depicting his siege of the city (ANEP, No. 369), and two tablets in Assyrian cuneiform found on the tell itself show that the conqueror established a colony at Gezer. But stamped jar handles and a shekel weight all marked “for the king” reveal that Gezer had returned to Judean control, at least under Josiah and possibly in the reign of Hezekiah.

c. Persian period. Other jar handles stamped “Yehud” and “Yerushalem” indicate that Gezer was part of, or had relations with the postexilic province. 1 Esdras 5:31 says that “sons of Gezer” (υἱοὶ̀ Γαζηρα) returned from captivity in Babylon—but the Heb. parallel texts (Ezra 2:48; Neh 7:51) have “sons of Gazzam,” which is prob. correct. A stone slab and a scaraboid with the name of Pharaoh Nepherites (398-393 b.c.) suggest that Gezer was witness to the conflict between the 29th Egypt. dynasty and the Pers. empire.

d. Intertestamental period. Prior to the establishment of the Hasmonean kingdom, Gezer was a Gentile city to which the defeated Seleucid forces could retreat (1 Macc 4:15; 7:45). Bacchides included it in his chain of strongholds (1 Macc 9:52; Jos. Antiq. XIII. i. 3). Later Simon besieged and took it (1 Macc 13:43-48 has Gaza but Jos. War, I. ii. 2; Antiq., XIII. vi. 7 correctly read Gezer [Gazara]). There he established his son John with a garrison (1 Macc 13:53; 14:34). Antiochus Sidetes tried to force Simon to surrender Gezer (1 Macc 15:28-35; 16:1-10), but only under the reign of John Hyrcanus did he succeed (Jos. War. I. ii. 5; Antiq. XIII. viii. 3); after Antiochus’ death, the Rom. senate supported Hyrcanus’ efforts to retrieve Gezer (Jos. Antiq. XIII. ix. 2). During the subsequent Rom. rule in Judea, Gezer was reduced to a small village. By the Byzantine era it had been completely overshadowed by another town 4 1/2 m. S-SE, viz. the Emmaus-Nicopolis of Eusebius (Onom 66:19-68:2, ed. Klostermann) and the Medeba map.

Further archeological investigation of Tell Gezer will certainly illuminate many aspects of her history and material culture. The famous “high place” discovered by Macalister has now been relocated by the Hebrew Union College expedition; its date is still not certain but appears to belong to the Middle Bronze Age. The Solomonic gate and casemate walls have also been uncovered again. It is hoped that the eastern part of the gate, untouched by Macalister, may provide more accurate stratified evidence of its construction phases.

Bibliography C. Clermont-Ganneau, Archaeological Researches in Palestine, II (1899), 224-275; id., “Nouvelle inscription hébraique et grecque,” RB, VIII (1899), 109-115; T. Pinches, “The Fragment of an Assyrian Tablet Found at Gezer,” PEQ. QSt (1904), 229-236; A. H. Sayce, “Note on the Assyrian Tablet,” PEQ. QSt (1904), 236, 237; C. H. W. Johns, “Note on the Gezer Contract Tablet,” PEQ. QSt (1904), 237-244; W. M. F. Petrie, “Notes on Objects from Gezer,” PEQ. QSt (1904), 244, 245; R. A. S. Macalister, Biblical Sidelights from the Mound of Gezer (1907); id., The Excavations at Gezer (1912); W. F. Albright, “Egypt and the Early History of the Negeb,” JPOS, IV (1924), 131-161; W. R. Taylor, “Some New Palestinian Inscriptions,” BASOR, No. 41 (1931), 27-29; W. F. Albright, “Two Little Understood Amarna Tablets from the Middle Jordan Valley,” BASOR, No. 89 (1943), 7-17; id., “The Gezer Calendar,” BASOR, No. 92 (1943), 16-26; id., “A Tablet of the Amarna Age from Gezer,” BASOR, No. 92 (1943), 28-30; R. B. K. Amiran, “The ‘Cream Ware’ of Gezer and the Beersheba Late Chalcolithic,” IEJ, V (1955), 240-245; Y. Yadin, “Solomon’s City Wall and Gate at Gezer,” IEJ, VIII (1958), 80-86; A. Malamat, “Campaigns of Amenhotep II and Thutmose IV to Canaan,” Studies in the Bible (Scripta Hierosolymitana, VIII, 1961), 228-231; G. E. Wright, “Gezer,” IEJ, XV (1965), 252, 253; J. F. Ross, “Gezer in the Tell el-Amarna Letters,” Bulletin—Museum Haaretz, VIII (1966), 45-54; H. Darrell Lance, “Gezer in the Land and in History,” BA, XXX (1967), 34-47; W. G. Dever, “Excavations at Gezer,” BA, XXX (1967), 47-62; J. F. Ross, “Gezer in the Tell el-Amarna Letters,” BA, XXX (1967), 62-72; W. G. Dever, H. D. Lance, and G. E. Wright. Gezer I, Annual of HUCBAS, vol. 1 (1970).