Hachilah
Hachilah [1]
(Heb. Chakilah', חֲכילָה . according to Gesenius, darksome; according to F ü rst, drought; Sept. Ε᾿χελά v.r. Χελμάθ ), the descriptive name of a well Wooded hill ( גַּבְעָה ) near ("on the south of," "before," "by the way of") the wilderness ("Jeshimon") of Ziph, where David lay hid, and where Saul pitched his tent at the information of the Ziphites ( 1 Samuel 23:19; 1 Samuel 26:1; 1 Samuel 26:3). This is doubtless the Tell Zif reported by Dr. Robinson (Researches, 2, 190, 191) as "a round eminence situated in the plain, a hundred feet or more in height," with a level plot on the top, apparently once enclosed by a wall, and containing several cisterns; lying a short distance west of the site of the town of Ziph. (See Ziph). The identification proposed by Schwarz (Palest. p. 113) with "the village Beth-Chachal, 21 miles west of Hebron," is unsupported and out of place.
