Ziklag
Description
Ziklag
Ziklag (Hebrew: צִקְלַג) is the biblical name of a town that was located in the Negev region in the south-west of what was the Kingdom of Judah. It was a provincial town within the Philistine kingdom of Gath when Achish was king.[1] Its exact location has not been identified with any certainty.
The more recently proposed identifications for Ziklag are:
Tel Zayit: (31°37′45.27″ N, 34°49′48.96″ E)
Khirbet a-Ra‘i in the Shephelah, close to modern-day Kiryat Gat, proposed in 2019 by excavating archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel and contested mainly on grounds of biblical geography and lacking name continuity by Aren Maeir and Israel Finkelstein. (31°35′26.62″N 34°49′12.30″E).
E.J.Banks
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Dictionary information
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 (1Sam 27:6 ). During his absence with his army to join the Philistine expedition against the Israelites (1Sam 29:11 ), it was destroyed by the Amalekites (1Sam 30:1 ; 30:2), whom David, however, pursued and utterly routed, returning all the captives (1Sam 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 (2Sam 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.
EBD - Easton's Bible Dictionary