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Ziklag


Ziklag (Hebrew: צִקְלַג‎) is the Biblical name of a town that was located in the Negev region in the south of what was the Kingdom of Judah.

The exact location of Ziklag has not been identified with any certainty.

At the end of the 19th century, both Haluza (by Wadi Asluj, south of Beersheba) and Khirbet Zuheiliqah (located north-west of Beersheba and south-southeast of Gaza city) had been suggested.Ziklag is generally agreed to be a significant corruption of the location's actual name; Haluza was identified as the location on the basis of Ziklag being a corruption of Halusah (slightly clearer in the underlying Hebrew script than in English), meaning fortress; Khirbet Zuheiliqah was identified by Conder and Kitchener as the location on the basis of Ziklag being a corruption of Zahaliku.

The more recently proposed identifications for Ziklag are:

The Book of Genesis (Genesis 10:14) refers to Casluhim as the origin of the Philistines. Biblical scholars regard this as an eponym rather than an individual, and it is thought possible that the name is a corruption of Halusah; with the identification of Ziklag as Haluza, this suggests that Ziklag was the original base from which the Philistines captured the remainder of their territory. It has also been proposed that Ziklag subsequently became the capital of the Cherethites.

In the lists of cities of the Israelites by tribe given in the Book of Joshua, Ziklag appears both as a town belonging to the Tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:31) and as a town belonging to the Tribe of Simeon (Joshua 19:5). Textual scholars believe that these lists were originally independent administrative documents, not necessarily dating from the same time, and hence reflecting the changing tribal boundaries. (1 Samuel 30) claims that by the time of David, the town was under the control of Philistines, but subsequently was given by their king - Achish - to David, who at that time was seemingly acting as a vassal of the Philistines. Biblical scholars argue that the town was probably on the eastern fringe of the Philistines' territory, and that it was natural for it to be annexed to Judah when David became king. Since the compilation of the Book of Joshua is regarded by textual scholars as late, probably being due to the deuteronomist, it is possible that the tribal allocations given within it date from after this annexation rather than before.


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