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EKRON.—A city in the Philistine Pentapolis, not conquered by Joshua (Jos_13:3), but theoretically a border city of Judah (Jos_15:11) and Dan (Jos_19:43); said, in a passage which is probably an interpolation, to have been smitten by Judah (Jdg_1:18). Hither the captured ark was brought from Ashdod (1Sa_5:10), and on its restoration the Philistine lords who had followed it to Beth-shemesh returned to Ekron (1Sa_6:16). Ekron was the border town of a territory that passed in the days of Samuel from the Philistines to Israel (1Sa_7:14), and it was the limit of the pursuit of the Philistines after the slaying of Goliath by David (1Sa_17:52). Its local numen was Baal-zebub, whose oracle Ahaziah consulted after his accident (2Ki_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 Zec_9:1-17; Zec_10:1-12; Zec_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.