Ziklag

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

A city in southern Judah, associated with Chesil and Hormah ( Joshua 15:31;  Joshua 19:5;  1 Chronicles 4:30). Lieut. Conder identifies it with Zehleika or Khirbet Zuheilikah in the middle of the plain N. of Beersheba, 200 miles square, just where the narrative concerning David would lead us to look for it. The ruins are on three small hills, forming an equilateral triangle, almost half a mile apart; among the ruins are several cisterns. Simeon possessed it. Assigned by Achish king of Gath to David, for the Philistines had taken it.

Thence David went up against the Geshurites, Gezrites, and Amalekites ( 1 Samuel 27:8-9;  1 Samuel 30:14;  1 Samuel 30:26), for these tribes occupied the plateau overhanging the Philistine plain to the W. and wady Murreh to the S. He resided there a year and four months; it was there he received daily new accessions of forces ( 1 Chronicles 12:1-20), and heard of Saul's death ( 2 Samuel 1:1;  2 Samuel 4:10); thence he went to Hebron ( 2 Samuel 2:1). Thus Ziklag lay at the confines of Philistia, Judah, and Amalek. Its position probably was in the open country, pastoral and amble, reached from the S. after passing out of wady er Ruheibeh. The term used in  1 Samuel 30:11 is "the field ( Sadeh ) of the Philistines"; Sadeh is applied to the country of Amalek ( Genesis 14:7). Reoccupied after the Babylonian captivity by the men of Judah ( Nehemiah 11:28).

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Zik'lag. (Winding). A place which possesses a special interest from its having been the residence and the private property of David. It is first mentioned in the catalogue of the towns of Judah in  Joshua 15:31, and occurs, in the same connection, among the places which were allotted out of the territory of Judah to Simeon.  Joshua 19:5.

We next encounter it, in the possession of the Philistines,  1 Samuel 27:6, when it was, at David's request, bestowed upon him by Achish, king of Gath. He resided there for a year and four months.  1 Samuel 27:6-7;  1 Samuel 30:14;  1 Samuel 30:26;  1 Chronicles 12:1;  1 Chronicles 12:20. It was there, he received the news of Saul's death.  2 Samuel 1:1;  2 Samuel 4:10. He then relinquished it for Hebron.  2 Samuel 2:1.

Ziklag is finally mentioned as being reinhabited by the people of Judah after their return from captivity.  Nehemiah 11:28. The situation of the town is difficult to determine, and we only know for certain that it was in the south country.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

City in the south of Judah given to David by Achish, one of the Philistine kings. It was burned down by the Amalekites, and the inhabitants carried away during the absence of David; but the captives and the spoil were recovered. It afterwards returned to the tribe of Judah. A list is given of the warriors who resorted to David at Ziklag while Saul was yet alive, and therefore while David was in rejection by the nation.  1 Chronicles 12:1-22 . Amasai, chief of the captains, said "Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee." Cheering words to one thus placed! They were apparently a type of those who follow the Lord Jesus now while He is still rejected by the world at large.  Joshua 15:31;  Joshua 19:5;  1 Samuel 27:6;  1 Samuel 30:1-26;  2 Samuel 1:1;  2 Samuel 4:10 ,   1 Chronicles 4:30;  Nehemiah 11:28 . Identified by some with Asluj, 31 3' N, 34 48' E .; but ruins at Zuheilikah, some 17 miles N.W. of Beersheba have been preferred by others.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Ziklag ( Zĭ K'Lăg ), Outpouring Of A Fountain? A city in the south of Judah,  Joshua 15:31; afterward given to Simeon,  Joshua 19:5. It was at times held by the Philistines. Achish, king of Gath, gave it to David, and it subsequently belonged to Judah. Its chief interest is in connection with the life of David.  1 Samuel 27:6;  1 Samuel 30:1;  1 Samuel 30:14;  1 Samuel 30:26;  2 Samuel 1:1;  2 Samuel 4:10;  1 Chronicles 4:30;  1 Chronicles 12:1-20. It was also inhabited after the return from the captivity.  Nehemiah 11:28.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Joshua 15:31 Joshua 19:5

Ziklag appears to have belonged to the Philistines, taken during a period of rapid expansion in the time of Israel's judges ( 1 Samuel 27:6 ). The town was given to David by Achish, king of Gath, during David's “outlaw” period. The gift may have been a means of shortening Philistia's over-extended borders. Ziklag appears never to have been a part of Philistia proper.

David made the town his headquarters as he gathered his private army and made raids against the Amalekites. On returning to his base following Philistia's refusal to allow him to fight with them against Saul, David found the town had been raided and burned by the Amalekites and his family taken hostage. A daring night raid on the base of the enemy resulted in the rescue of his people and their return to Ziklag ( 1 Samuel 30:1 ). Jews returning from Babylonian Exile inhabited Ziklag ( Nehemiah 11:28 ).

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

ZIKLAG . A town given by Achish king of Gath to the outlawed David (  1 Samuel 27:6;   1 Samuel 30:1 ff., 2Sa 1:1;   2 Samuel 4:10 ,   1 Chronicles 12:1;   1 Chronicles 12:20 ). In the national register of cities it is assigned to Judah (  Joshua 15:31 ) or to Simeon (  Joshua 19:5 ), and is mentioned also in the post-exilic list (  Nehemiah 11:28 ). It has been identified with Zuheilîqa , 11 m. S. E. of Gaza, and 20 m. S.W. from Eleutheropolis.

H. L. Willett.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

a city of the Philistines, first assigned to the tribe of Judah, and afterward to that of Simeon,  Joshua 15:31;  Joshua 19:5; but it does not appear that the Philistines were ever driven out; as, when David fled into their country from Saul, Achish gave the city to him,  1 Samuel 27:5-6 . It was afterward burned by the Amalekites,  1 Samuel 30:1 . But it appears to have been rebuilt, as the author of the First Book of Samuel, when relating its being given to David, adds, that it pertained to the kings of Judah in his time.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A city of Judah and Simeon, on the borders of the Philistines,  Joshua 15:31;  19:5 , who held it until the time of Saul, when Achish king of Gath gave it to David. Hither many other refugees from Judah resorted, and David was thus enabled to aid Achish, and to chastise the Amalekites who had sacked Ziklag during his absence,  1 Samuel 27:1 -  6;  30:1-31;  Nehemiah 11:28 .

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Joshua 15:31 1 Samuel 27:6 1 Samuel 30:26-31 2 Samuel 1:1-16

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Tsikclag צַקְלִג [on pause צַקַלָג , fully Tsikelag'; צַיקַלִג  1 Chronicles 12:20], winding [F Ü rst]; Sept. Σεκελά or Σικελάγ v.r. Σικελά etc.; Josephus, Σίκελλα , Ant. 6:13, 10; 14, 6; Steph., Byz. Σέκελα ; Vulg. Siceleg ) , a place which possesses a special interest from its having been the residence and the private property of David. It is first mentioned in the catalogue: of the towns of Judah in Joshua 15 where it is enumerated ( Joshua 15:31) among those of the extreme south, between Hormah (or Zephath) and Madmannah (possibly Beth-marcaboth). It next occurs in the same connection, among the places which were allotted out of the territory of Judah to Simeon ( Joshua 19:5). We next encounter it in the possession of the Philistines ( 1 Samuel 27:6), when it was, at David's request, bestowed upon him by Achish king of Gath. He resided there for a year and four months ( 1 Samuel 27:7; 1 Samuel 31;  1 Samuel 14:26;  1 Chronicles 12:1;  1 Chronicles 12:20; Josephus [ Ant. 6:13, 10] gives this, as one, month and twenty-days). It was there he received the news of Saul's death ( 2 Samuel 1:1; in,  2 Samuel 1:10). He then relinquished it for Hebron (2, 1). Ziklag is finally mentioned, in company with, Beer-sheba, Hazarshual, and other towns of the south, as being reinhabited by the people of Judani after their return from the Captivity ( Nehemiah 11:28).

The situation of the town is difficult to determine, notwithstanding so many notices. On the other hand, that it was in "the south" (Negeb) seems certain, both from the towns named with it, and also from its mention with "the south of the Cherethites" and "the south of Caleb" some of whose descendants we know were at Ziph and Maon, perhaps even at Paran ( 1 Samuel 25:1). On the other hand, this is difficult to reconcile with its connection with the Philistines and with the fact which follows from the narrative of 1 Samuel 30 (see  1 Samuel 30:9-10;  1 Samuel 30:21) that it was north of the brook Besor. The word employed in  1 Samuel 27:5;  1 Samuel 27:7;  1 Samuel 27:11, to denote the region in which it stood is peculiar. It is not Hash-Shephelah, as it must have been had Ziklag stood in the ordinary lowland of Philistia, but Has-Sadeh, which Prof. Stanley ( Sin And Pal. App. § 15) renders "the field." On the whole, though the temptation is strong to suppose (as some have suggested) that there were two places of the same name, the only conclusion seems to be that Ziklag was in the south country, with a portion of which the Philistines had a connection, which man have lasted from the time of their residence there in the days of Abraham and Isaac. Ziklag does not appear to have been known to Eusebius and Jerome, or to any .f the older travelers. Mr. Rowlands, however, in his journey from Gaza to Suez in 1842 (in Williams, Holy City, 1, 463-468), was told of "an ancient site called Asluj, or Kasluj, with some ancient walls," three hours east of Sebata, which again was two hours and a half south of Khalasa. This he considers as identical with Ziklag. Dr. Robinson had previously (in 1838) heard of Aslui as lying south-west of Milh, on the way to Abdeh (Bibl. Res. 2, 201), a position not discordant with that of Mr. Rowlands. The identification is supported by Mr. Wilton (Negeb, p. 209); but in the Arabic form of the name. the similarity which prompted Mr. Rowlands's conjecture almost entirely disappears ( עשלג צקלג ). — Smith. The English engineers think that they have discovered the name and site of Ziklag in the ruins still called Khirbet Zuheilikah, occupying three small hills, nearly half a mile apart, in the form of an equilateral triangle, together with ancient cities, situated in an open, rolling plain eleven miles east-southeast of Gaza, and nineteen south-west of Beit-Jibrin. (Quar. Report of Pal. Explor. Fund, Jan. 1878, p. 12 sq.). (See Simeon).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

zik´lag ( צקלג , ciḳelagh , צקלג , ciḳelāgh (  2 Samuel 1:1 ), ציקלג , cı̄ḳelagh ( 1 Chronicles 12:1 ,  1 Chronicles 12:20 ); usually in the Septuagint Σεκελάκ , Sekelák , or Σικελάγ , Sikelág ): A town assigned ( Joshua 19:5;  1 Chronicles 4:30 ) to Simeon, but in  Joshua 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 Samuel 27:6 ) to have remained a royal city. In  Nehemiah 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 Samuel 27:6 f;   1 Chronicles 12:1 ,  1 Chronicles 12:20 ); it was raided by the Amalekites, on whom David took vengeance and so recovered his property ( 1 Samuel 30:14 ,  1 Samuel 30:26 ); here the messenger who came to announce Saul's death was slain ( 2 Samuel 1:1;  2 Samuel 4:10 ).

The site of this important place is not yet fixed with certainty; Conder proposed Zucheilı̄ka , a ruin 11 miles South-Southeast of Gaza, and 4 miles North of Wâdy es - Sherı̄‛ă , which may be the "Brook Besor" (  1 Samuel 30:9 ,  1 Samuel 30:10 ,  1 Samuel 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.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Zik´lag, a city belonging to the tribe of Simeon (; ), but at times subject to the Philistines of Gath, whose king, Achish, bestowed it upon David for a residence; after which it pertained to Judah (; ; ; ; ; ; ).

While David was absent with his men to join Achish, Ziklag was burned and plundered by the Amalekites; and on his return, after receiving the spoil from them, he remained here till called to assume the crown after the death of Saul. It was during his stay in this place that he was joined by many considerable and valiant persons, whose adhesion to his cause was of much importance to him, and who were ever after held in high esteem in his court and army.