Ziklag

This is an article from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897. This article is written from a nineteenth century Christian viewpoint, and may not reflect modern opinions or recent discoveries in Biblical scholarship Please help the Wikipedia by bringing this article up to date.

Ziklag - 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.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)