“Your western boundary will be the coast of the Great Sea. This will be your boundary on the west.”
Numbers 34:6
Continuing west from the Shephelah, we arrived at the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The coastal plain is characterized by its flatness and being on the coast (hence the region’s name). This area allowed for easy, unimpeded travel. The main international airport that serves Israel today is located in this region near the modern city of Tel Aviv. I had once wondered why they hadn’t built the airport closer to Jerusalem. The simplest answer is that if you go much farther east of the airport, you run into hills. The ancients didn’t have any airports, but a major international trade route ran through the coastal plain in antiquity, connecting Egypt to the south with Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and area) to the northeast and Anatolia (modern Turkey) to the northwest. Controlling the coastal plain meant controlling international trade!
The Philistines occupied much of the coastal plain, contesting with the Israelites for control over it. We spent the night in Ashkelon, one of their main five cities, and visited the national park the following morning. Besides being a nice beach for swimming, the park has ruins from a variety of eras from Canaanite times to Roman and beyond.
