Philistine Cities

One of my favorite OT stories is found in 1 Samuel 4 and 5. The people of Israel battled the Philistines, and in an attempt to win the battle, they brought the Ark of the Covenant into the battle. They didn't ask God, they believed that with the Ark leading the battle, they could not lose. Where once the people respected the Ark as the place where God dwelt, they now looked at it as a good luck charm, a sign of how far the priesthood had wandered from the Word of the Lord.
The Philistines, at first afraid because they knew the stories of how the Israelites defeated all foes when the Ark led the way, instead of retreating, they fought with all they had and routed the Israelites. They took what they considered to be the god of Israel to the house of their god, Dagon, in Ashdod. The next morning they entered the temple and found Dagon face down before the Ark. They put the statue back on its stand and when they entered the next morning, Dagon was not only on his face, but his head, hands and feet were cut off...that is what the Philistines did to conquered kings. After a sojourn in 4 of the Philistine cities which experienced boils and sores until the Ark left, the Philistine leaders sent it back to Israel on a cart pulled by nursing cows. They said, if the cows turn to their calves, then it was all coincidence.
The Philistines recognized the hand of God when the cows carried the Ark into Israel.

We visited Ashdod, Ashkelon and Ekron, 3 of the 5 Philistine cities. Ashkelon has an excavated original Canaanite mud gate, from the time of the Judges. The archeologists in our group were thrilled. They talked about the gate, how it was made, what it means that it still exists...We walked through the gate and then around the park, visiting the rest of the ruins. The park was filled with picnickers enjoying a holiday. The aroma of bar-b-ques emphasized that I was hungry. Music and laughter filled the air, much like a holiday at home.
Ashdod contained a Roman citadel, blocked off so that we could not get in. Our car got stuck in the sand, in fact 2 of the 3 cars we took got stuck in the sand. We got them out and continued on our way.
We searched a Kibbutz for Ekron and finally found an arrow pointing to a field ready for planting. They covered the ruins to plant food. They commented about the archeologist who had worked hard to excavate Ekron and how disappointed she'd be to see it all recovered. We did find a display of the items found in Ekron including pottery, a potter's wheel, a weaving loom, a Philistine cart, and a burial jar.
I walked in places that had only been in the Scriptures, it was exciting to be where it happened...walking history.