Achzib

Achzib was a fortified Phoenician port on the Mediterranean coast in the inheritance of Asher (Joshua 19:29). When Israel settled the land, Asher failed to drive out its inhabitants, leaving the Canaanites and Phoenicians to continue living there alongside the tribe (Judges 1:31). The Hebrew name (akhziv) puns on a word meaning "deceit" or "disappointment," and the prophet Micah later played on this in his lament: "the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing (akhzab) to the kings of Israel" (Micah 1:14). The site is identified with Tel Akhziv (Ez-Zib) on the coast about nine miles north of Acco, where extensive Phoenician, Persian, and Hellenistic remains have been excavated. A second Achzib in the Shephelah of Judah (Joshua 15:44) is a separate town.