“I was woken up by a loud thudding sound as millions of jaws hit the floor all around the world,” said commentator and author Jake Wallis Simons, speaking about the reaction to Trump’s proposals for the Gaza Strip.
“This morning I woke up to a WhatsApp message on my phone which said, “Make Gaza great again, what a great idea!”
Now that was not from a MAGA farmer in Alabama, it was from my friend in Gaza who’s currently in Gaza city,” he added.
Wallis Simons continued, “I spoke to him on the phone and he said that he and everybody he knows are fully behind Trump’s proposals because they don’t want to live in rubble for the 20 years it will take to rebuild their houses. They don’t want to live in tents, they don’t want to see their children have to rely on aid handouts. We have so many millions of refugees around the world… yet the Palestinians are meant to put up with horrendous conditions brought upon their heads by Hamas.”1
We’ve all been blindsided by the extraordinary events of this last week. Many are wondering what will happen next, and there are lots of very strong opinions about what should happen to the people — and the land — of Gaza. God has a thing or two to say about Gaza in His word, and surely those who share the heart of God long for a new day for the people and a new regime in the land.
Bassem Eid, a Palestinian peace activist and the founder of Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, posted his thoughts on X about the new plan, saying, “It’s giving its people a way out of oppression. The hope is that one day they can return to a Gaza that is free from Hamas, where peace and prosperity can truly take root.”
When I asked my Palestinian brothers and sisters in Gaza what their top priorities were before the war, their answers were clear: a job to support their families, access to quality education, and reliable healthcare. Now, many are left jobless, homeless, and desperate for a… pic.twitter.com/y0nensbcch
— Bassem Eid (@realbassemeid) February 5, 2025
Wallis Simons, author of Israelophobia, said the Gaza Strip could have been made the “Riviera of the Middle East” many years ago if different decisions had been made. However, a series of terrible choices has led to this apocalyptic nightmare. Time will tell what happens next.
The word of God to Gaza
Did you know that Gaza is mentioned in the Bible multiple times?
There are 22 mentions of Gaza altogether, but almost all of them have negative connotations or contexts, as a cursory look through references brought up by a concordance search will tell you. The Gaza Strip was a place of Israel’s enemies in biblical times, and was place where Samson picked up the prostitute (Delilah) who would be his downfall, and where Goliath, the Philistine giant came from.
Gaza is also mentioned in the prophets a few times, and those prophecies are very interesting.
Jeremiah 47:1-6 declares,
This is what the Lord says:
“See how the waters are rising in the north; they will become an overflowing torrent.
They will overflow the land and everything in it, the towns and those who live in them.
The people will cry out; all who dwell in the land will wail
at the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds,
at the noise of enemy chariots and the rumble of their wheels.
Parents will not turn to help their children; their hands will hang limp.
For the day has come to destroy all the Philistines
and to remove all survivors who could help Tyre and Sidon.
The Lord is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.
Gaza will shave her head in mourning; Ashkelon will be silenced.
You remnant on the plain, how long will you cut yourselves?
“‘Alas, sword of the Lord, how long till you rest?
Return to your sheath; cease and be still.’
When “the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor” are mentioned, the Bible is referring to Crete. The Philistines who settled in Canaan originated from Caphtor, which is Crete, according to the Bible. Clearly this was a different time and the prophet Jeremiah is talking to a different people, but it’s an interesting read.
Similarly, Amos 1: 6-7 declares,
This is what the Lord says:
“For three sins of Gaza,
even for four, I will not relent.
Because she took captive whole communities
and sold them to Edom,
I will send fire on the walls of Gaza
that will consume her fortresses.
Well. That’s a bit closer to the bone. Present day Gazans really did take captive whole communities.
God’s mercy for the people of the Gaza Strip
Even more pertinent, perhaps, is Zephaniah chapter 2:4-7. This prophecy talks about Gaza being cleared out, and belonging a people of praise (Judah means praise). Moreover, it ends with a note of hope, a phrase found in several places in the prophets: “He will restore their fortunes.”
Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon left in ruins.
At midday Ashdod will be emptied and Ekron uprooted.
Woe to you who live by the sea, you Kerethite people;
the word of the Lord is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines.
He says, “I will destroy you, and none will be left.”
The land by the sea will become pastures having wells for shepherds
and pens for flocks.
That land will belong to the remnant of the people of Judah;
there they will find pasture.
In the evening they will lie down in the houses of Ashkelon.
The Lord their God will care for them; he will restore their fortunes.
Next up is Zechariah 9:5-8. This prophecy also talks about an end to evil rule in Gaza, and the clan of Judah (praise) comes up again.
Gaza will writhe in agony, and Ekron too, for her hope will wither.
Gaza will lose her king and Ashkelon will be deserted.
A mongrel people will occupy Ashdod,
and I will put an end to the pride of the Philistines.
I will take the blood from their mouths,
the forbidden food from between their teeth.
Those who are left will belong to our God
and become a clan in Judah,
and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.
But I will encamp at my temple to guard it against marauding forces.
Never again will an oppressor overrun my people, for now I am keeping watch.
A phrase that I think speaks of God’s mercy to a people who have descended into violence is: “I will take the blood from their mouths, the forbidden food from between their teeth.” Although the people had been involved in bloodthirsty atrocities, God wants to clean them up and bring them to Himself. The remnant is those who are left, who choose God and His ways. They will become a clan in Judah, a people of praise.
Even with the notes of hope in these two prophecies, the notion that the area would be conquered and cleared does seem to feature. Whether we can apply that biblical word to the events of today is another matter.
The best mention of Gaza in the Bible
But there’s one more, the very last mention of Gaza appears in the New Testament. It’s in Acts 8, in the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”
Starting at verse 26, we read the exciting story of how the first African to come to faith — and it all happened on the road to Gaza. Philip met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). He had gone to Jerusalem to worship for the Feast of Shavuot, and was reading Isaiah 53 on his way home.
“Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
The rest, as they say, is history. It’s a wonderful story of powerful evangelism, Isaiah’s prophecies about the Messiah were explained by Philip, and the first Ethiopian was saved.
“Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?”
Gaza has some very hard connotations in the Bible but this is a very good one. The power of the gospel to reach everyone.
God loves the people of Gaza, and we are praying that many will become like Judah: a people of praise.
- https://youtu.be/C3hvX1Mbxr4?si=CIfSlc1JHCI8ZnRh
