A port city (modern Jaffa) in the territory of Dan, on the coast of the Mediterranean (Josh 19:46), conquered by the Philistines and not included in Israelite territory. Solomon brought timber to Joppa from the Lebanon for building his Temple (II Chr 2:16) and cedar wood was also brought to the "sea at Joppa" after the return from Babylon (Ezra 3:7). The prophet Jonah sailed from Joppa to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3). In 701 B.C. Joppa was conquered by Sennacherib, king of Assyria, who took it from Sidka, king of Ashkelon. In the Persian period it was given to the Sidonians.
In the days of the Ptolemies Joppa was granted autonomy, with the right to mint coins. In 144 B.C. the city was conquered by Simon Maccabee, who drove out the alien inhabitants and settled his soldiers there so that he could use it as an opening to the sea (I Macc 10:76; 12:33-34; 13:11; 14:5). Jewish sovereignty over Joppa was disputed for some time but the Jews held it de facto. So important was the city for the economy of the Hasmonean kingdom that Alexander Jannaeus struck a large series of coins with marine symbols to commemorate its conquest. With the decline of the Hasmonean kingdom and the subsequent conquest of Palestine by Pompey in 64 B.C. Joppa was rebuilt and detached from Judea. This was a great blow to the Judean economy, but in 30 B.C. Augustus returned it to Herod. Herod conferred the rights of a polis on the city, and it became the capital of a small district.
Joppa is mentioned several times in the NT. It was here that Tabitha, a disciple of Jesus and woman "full of good works and charitable deeds" died and was revived by Peter (Acts 9:36 ff) and also here that he saw his vision of the beasts (Acts 10:5 ff)
Excavations in the ancient mound of Jaffa have revealed remains of fortifications and habitations of all periods from the Bronze Age to Byzantine and Arab times. Of great interest are the Middle Bronze Age fortifications and a gate of the Egyptian town of the Late Bronze Age, on the jamb of which a hieroglyphic inscription was found.
Concordance
Josh 19:46. II Chr 2:16. Ezra 3:7. Jonah 1:3. Acts 9:36, 38, 42-43; 10:5, 8, 23, 32; 11:5, 13
