Ziklag
From Bible Exegesis
A town in the Negeb, or south country of Judah (Jos_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 (1Sa_27:6). During his absence with his army to join the Philistine expedition against the Israelites (1Sa_29:11), it was destroyed by the Amalekites (1Sa_30:1, 1Sa_30:2), whom David, however, pursued and utterly routed, returning all the captives (1Sa_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.
zik´lag (צקלג, ciḳelagh, צקלג, ciḳelāgh (2Sa_1:1), ציקלג, cīḳelagh (1Ch_12:1, 1Ch_12:20); usually in the Septuagint Σεκελάκ, Sekelák, or Σικελάγ, Sikelág):
A town assigned (Jos_19:5; 1Ch_4:30) to Simeon, but in Jos_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 (1Sa_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 (1Sa_27:6 f; 1Ch_12:1, 1Ch_12:20); it was raided by the Amalekites, on whom David took vengeance and so recovered his property (1Sa_30:14, 1Sa_30:26); here the messenger who came to announce Saul's death was slain (2Sa_1:1; 2Sa_4:10).
The site of this important place is not yet fixed with certainty; Conder proposed Zucheilīka, a ruin 11 miles South-Southeast of Gaza, and 4 miles North of Wâdy es-Sherī‛ă, which may be the “Brook Besor” (1Sa_30:9, 1Sa_30:10, 1Sa_30:21); Rowland (1842) proposed ‛Aslūj, 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.
