Verse 7. - A fire. Each guilty city is to have its own special punishment, though probably the calamity of each is common to all. Gaza was conquered by Sennacherib when he invaded Judea in the time of Hezekiah, by Pharaoh-Necho (Jeremiah 47:1), and by Alexander the Great, who spent more than two months in its siege (Josephus, 'Ant.,' 11:08, 4; Arrian., 2:27; see note on Zephaniah 2:4).

1:18-21 There shall be abundant Divine influences, and the gospel will spread speedily into the remotest corners of the earth. These events are predicted under significant emblems; there is a day coming, when every thing amiss shall be amended. The fountain of this plenty is in the house of God, whence the streams take rise. Christ is this Fountain; his sufferings, merit, and grace, cleanse, refresh, and make fruitful. Gospel grace, flowing from Christ, shall reach to the Gentile world, to the most remote regions, and make them abound in fruits of righteousness; and from the house of the Lord above, from his heavenly temple, flows all the good we daily taste, and hope to enjoy eternally.But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza,.... An enemy that shall pull down and destroy the walls of it: this was fulfilled in the times of Uzziah, under whom Amos prophesied; and very likely in a very short time after this prophecy, who went out and warred against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gaza, 2 Chronicles 26:6; or else in the times of Hezekiah, who smote the Philistines unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, 2 Kings 18:8; or however in the times of Nebuchadnezzar, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, Jeremiah 25:20; as also in the times of Alexander the great, who, after he had taken Tyre, besieged Gaza, and after two months' siege took it, as Diodorus Siculus relates (p); the wall being undermined and thrown down, he entered in at the ruins of it, as Curtius (q) says; in the times of the Maccabees the suburbs of it were burnt by Jonathan, and the place taken:

"61 From whence he went to Gaza, but they of Gaza shut him out; wherefore he laid siege unto it, and burned the suburbs thereof with fire, and spoiled them. 62 Afterward, when they of Gaza made supplication unto Jonathan, he made peace with them, and took the sons of their chief men for hostages, and sent them to Jerusalem, and passed through the country unto Damascus.'' (1 Maccabees 11)

which shall devour the palaces thereof; the palaces of the governor, and of other great men in it; (the governor of it, when Alexander took it, was Batis;) and the stately towers of it, of which there were many. This city was about fifteen miles south of Askelon, and about four or five north of the river Bezor, and at a small distance from the Mediterranean. It was situated on an eminence, surrounded with the most beautiful and fertile valleys, watered by the above mentioned river, and a number of other springs; and at a further distance encompassed on the inland side with hills, all planted with variety of fine fruit trees. The city itself was strong, both by its situation, and by the stout "walls" and stately "bowers" that surrounded it, and built after the Philistine manner (r) Arrian also says (s), it was a great city built on high ground, and encompassed with a strong wall, and was distant from the sea at least two and a half miles; See Gill on Acts 8:26.

(p) Bibliothec. tom. 2. l. 17. p. 526. (q) Hist. l. 4. c. 5, 6. (r) Universal History, vol. 2. p. 490. (s) De Expeditione Alex. l. 2. p. 150.