Gezer

Gezer (meaning: dividing, sentence) was an ancient Canaanite city of great strategic importance, situated at the western entrance to the Valley of Aijalon where the Shephelah meets the coastal plain — the gateway from the coast to the highlands of Judah. Joshua defeated the king of Gezer when Horam came to aid Lachish (Joshua 10:33), and Gezer is listed among Joshua's conquered cities (Joshua 12:12). However, the Canaanite population was not driven out and continued to live as forced laborers (Judges 1:29).

Gezer's most significant biblical moment came when Pharaoh captured and burned it, killed its Canaanite inhabitants, and gave it as a dowry to his daughter upon her marriage to Solomon (1 Kings 9:16–17). Solomon rebuilt the city, making it one of his key fortifications alongside Hazor and Megiddo. Excavations at Tell Gezer have uncovered a famous tenth-century agricultural calendar inscription (the Gezer Calendar, one of the oldest Hebrew inscriptions), Solomonic-era gates matching those described at Hazor and Megiddo, and substantial Bronze and Iron Age remains confirming the city's continuous occupation and importance throughout the biblical period.