Ziklag
Easton's Bible Dictionary
A town in the Negeb, or south country of Judah (Josh 15:31), in the possession of the Philistines when David fled to Gath from Ziph with all his followers. Achish, the king, assigned him Ziklag as his place of residence. There he dwelt for over a year and four months. From this time it pertained to the kings of Judah (1 Sam 27:6). During his absence with his army to join the Philistine expedition against the Israelites (29:11), it was destroyed by the Amalekites (30:1, 2), whom David, however, pursued and utterly routed, returning all the captives (1 Sam 30:26-31). Two days after his return from this expedition, David received tidings of the disastrous battle of Gilboa and of the death of Saul (2 Sam 1:1-16). He now left Ziklag and returned to Hebron, along with his two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail, and his band of 600 men. It has been identified with ‘Asluj, a heap of ruins south of Beersheba. Conder, however, identifies it with Khirbet Zuheilikah, ruins found on three hills half a mile apart, some seventeen miles north-west of Beersheba, on the confines of Philistia, Judah, and Amalek.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
zik'-lag (tsiqelagh, tsiqelagh (2 Sam 1:1), tsiqelagh (1 Chr 12:1; 1 Chr 12:20); usually in the Septuagint Sekelak, or Sikelag): A town assigned (Josh 19:5; 1 Chr 4:30) to Simeon, but in Josh 15:31 named, between Hornah and Madmannah, as one of the cities of the Negeb of Judah, "toward the border of Edom." It is said (1 Sam 27:6) to have remained a royal city. In Neh 11:28 it is in the list of towns reinhabited by the returning children of Judah. Its chief associations are with David. Achish the Philistine king of Gath gave it to David as a residence (1 Sam 27:6; 1 Chr 12:1; 1 Chr 12:20); it was raided by the Amalekites, on whom David took vengeance and so recovered his property (1 Sam 30:14; 1 Sam 30:26); here the messenger who came to announce Saul's death was slain (2 Sam 1:1; 2 Sam 4:10).
The site of this important place is not yet fixed with certainty; Conder proposed Zucheilika, a ruin 11 miles South-Southeast of Gaza, and 4 miles North of Wady es-Sheri'a, which may be the "Brook Besor" (1 Sam 30:9; 1 Sam 30:10; 1 Sam 30:21); Rowland (1842) proposed `Asluj, a heap of ruins South of Beersheba and 7 miles to the East of Bered. Neither site is entirely satisfactory. See Williams, Holy City, I, 463-68; BR, II, 201, PEF, 288, Sh XX.
E. W. G. Masterman
See also
Kilde: Easton's Bible Dictionary (M.G. Easton, 1897) og International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (red. James Orr, 1915/1939), public domain. Translated into Danish with AI and not yet proofread (fully or partially). Links to people and places: Theographic Bible Metadata (CC BY-SA 4.0).