Achzib
Achzib is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Phoenicia in modern-day Israel. Known today as Tel Achziv. It appears across 2 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Achzib in Asher — distinct from the Judean city of the same name — was a Phoenician coastal city that Israel failed to subjugate during the settlement of Canaan. It appears in Joshua 19:29 as one of the towns defining the boundary of the tribe of Asher's territory on the northern Mediterranean coast. More significantly, Judges 1:31 explicitly names Achzib among the cities from which Asher did not drive out the Canaanite inhabitants, one of multiple such failures in the northern tribes that Judges records as a pattern of accommodation and compromise. This failure to execute the full terms of the conquest would, according to the theological framework of Judges (2:1–3), result in the Canaanite peoples becoming thorns in Israel's side and their gods becoming snares. Achzib also appears in Micah 1:14 in the same breathless series of wordplays on Judean Shephelah town names — but scholars note this reference may apply to the Judean Achzib rather than the northern one. The northern Achzib's Phoenician character is confirmed by its cultural proximity to Sidon and Tyre, the dominant Phoenician city-states. As a coastal city it would have been a significant commercial hub engaged in the Mediterranean trade networks that characterized Phoenician civilization.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The northern Achzib is confidently identified with Tel Achziv (also written Tel Akhziv), located on the Mediterranean coast of modern northern Israel approximately 14 kilometers north of Akko, near the modern community of Gesher HaZiv. The site has been excavated by Israeli archaeologists including Moshe Prausnitz, revealing a rich sequence of occupation from the Middle Bronze Age through the Crusader period. Particularly notable are Late Bronze Age and Iron Age Phoenician remains including pottery, metal artifacts, and an extensive cemetery with diverse tomb types attesting to a cosmopolitan coastal population. Phoenician bichrome ware and other luxury goods confirm the site's Phoenician cultural character. An Iron Age harbor installation has been documented, consistent with Achziv's role in maritime trade. The site is now partly an Israeli national park.
Verse Appearances (2)
Josh
Judg
Sources: ISBE Encyclopedia · OpenBible Geocoding (CC BY) · Pleiades Gazetteer View all →