“Following is the account of the forced labor levied by King Shlomo for building the house of Adonai, his own palace, the Millo, the wall of Yerushalayim, and the cities of Hatzor, Megiddo and Gezer. Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, taken Gezer, burned it to the ground, and killed the Kena‘ani living in the city; then he had given it as a dowry for his daughter, Shlomo’s wife. So Shlomo rebuilt Gezer; he also built Lower Beit-Horon.” —1 Kings 9:15-17
The land of GEZER has an interesting history going all the way back to Joshua.
In Joshua Chapter 10, we’re told that Joshua defeated Horam, king of Gezer.
Gezer was later included among the cities allotted to Israel and assigned to the Levites.
But there was a problem.
The Canaanite population was never completely driven out.
Joshua 16:10 tells us that the Canaanites continued living in Gezer among the Israelites and became subject to forced labor.
Judges 1:29 says the same thing.
Then, centuries later, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, came up, captured Gezer, burned it, killed the Canaanites living there, and gave the city to his daughter as a dowry when she married Solomon.
So this one piece of real estate went through some pretty dramatic changes over the centuries.
I know that’s confusing as all hell.
But that’s history for you.
Why was Gezer such a contested piece of real estate?
Because of its strategic location.
Gezer was connected to the major trade routes running through the region.
So it was both economically and militarily valuable.
Gezer eventually became one of Solomon’s key chariot cities.
This gave Solomon greater control over the movement of people and goods throughout his kingdom.
And the trade routes passing through the region provided a juicy source of revenue.
So what takeaway can we extract from this?
Well, just look at what happened to Gezer over time.
Joshua defeated its king but never fully drove the Canaanites out.
Then Egypt later captured the city and gave it to Solomon.
Finally, Solomon rebuilt Gezer and incorporated it into his kingdom’s strategic network.
The point is…
The people changed, the kings changed, and the empires changed.
But the land remained the same.
Now what does this remind us of?
Israel, doesn’t it?
The dispute over this land remains one of the most consequential geopolitical conflicts on earth.
The players and political boundaries may have changed.
But the fundamental issue hasn’t changed.
Every homie and his grandmother wants a piece of it.
Why?
Because this is covenant territory, homie.
That’s why this tiny strip of land has been fought over for thousands of years.
Just like Gezer was.
Alrighty, I’ll leave it at that for today.
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