site of ancient Gath, courtesy, Wikipedia |
According to the Books of Joshua and I Samuel, Gath was one of the five principal cities of the Philistines which was later allotted to the tribe of Judah. But at the time of Joshua, the Israelites did not conquer it. Gath was the native city of Goliath (I Sam. xvii.). After David’s victory over him and the other Philistines, he took refuge with the Philistine King Achish of Gath (I Sam, xxi. 10, xxvii. 2). According to II Chron. xi. 8, Rehoboam fortified the city, which, however, must have fallen into the hands of the Philistines again, and later to the Syrians under Hazael, but afterwards it was conquered by Uzziah of Judah thus falling back into Israelite hands (II Chron. xxvi. 6). According to an Assyrian inscription, during the reign of King Ahab over Judah, King Sargon of Assyria conquered Gath along with other Philistine cities (comp. Amos vi. 2; Micah i. 14).
In modern
times, the city of Kiryat Gat, named
after the ancient site, was founded in 1954, initially as a ma'abara.
The following year it was established as a development
town by 18 families from Morocco. The
population rose from 4,400 inhabitants in 1958 to 17,000 in 1969, mostly from Jewish
immigrants from North Africa. The economy was initially based
on processing the agricultural produce of the Lachish region,
such as cotton and wool. In December 1972, Kiryat Gat's municipal status was
upgraded and it became Israel's 31st city.
During the
1990s, the mass immigration of Soviet Jews to
Israel brought many new residents to the town and its population grew to 42,500
by 1995. The development of the Rabin
industrial zone on the eastern edge of the city, and the opening of Highway 6 further improved the local economy.
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