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Place

Ziklag

1-samueldavid

Summary

The Philistine town David ruled from, burned by Amalekite raiders while his men were away, where David found strength in the LORD his God and recovered everything.

  • Ziklag was a Philistine town Achish of Gath granted to David while he was fleeing Saul, and David ruled it for a year and four months.
  • Amalekite raiders burned it to the ground while David and his men were away, taking every woman and child captive.
  • At his lowest point, with his own men speaking of stoning him, David found strength in the LORD his God before any word came from him.
  • David pursued the raiders, recovered everyone and everything, and set a lasting rule: the share of the one who fought matches the share of the one who guarded the supplies.
  • Mighty men gathered to David at Ziklag, and it was there, two days after Saul's death, that the Amalekite messenger brought the news and later paid for his claim.

On this page

In Scripture

Verses
12
Books
5
See it on Reference map of ancient Palestine→

Near Ziklag

Straight-line distances, computed from the gazetteer coordinates.

Where it is

the country around it

Coordinates
31.3776° N, 34.8736° Efind it on the Atlas →
Region
Negev border
Kind of place
Town
BeershebaBeershebaHebronHebronLachishLachishZiklag15 km · 9.3 miN
  • Located: the gazetteer fixes one site
Ziklag and the country around it, about 70 km across. Every mark sits at the coordinates the gazetteer records for it.
Reference map of ancient Palestine: the coast, the hill country, the Jordan rift and the Dead Sea, with the towns of the biblical narrative marked.
Reference map of ancient Palestine: the land from Dan to Beersheba: most of the historical books happen on this one sheet.Rand McNally reference map (1926), public domain.Open this plate full size in The Atlas →

Why Ziklag matters

Ziklag was granted to David by Achish, king of Gath, during the year and four months David spent living in Philistine territory while fleeing Saul. It was a morally mixed period of David's life: from Ziklag he raided nearby peoples and told Achish he had raided Judah instead, so that Achish came to trust him completely, without ever knowing where David's loyalty truly lay. While David and his men were away with the Philistine army, Amalekite raiders attacked Ziklag, burned it to the ground, and carried off every woman and child in it, including David's own two wives. David's men wept until they had no strength left, and then turned on David himself, speaking of stoning him for the loss. It is at this exact point, before any word came from the LORD, that Scripture records the turn: David found strength in the LORD his God. From that point David inquired of the LORD through the ephod, was told to pursue, and set out with six hundred men. Two hundred grew too exhausted to cross the Brook of Besor and stayed behind. The remaining four hundred found an abandoned Egyptian slave who, once given food and water, led them to the Amalekite camp. David attacked at twilight and struck them down until the following evening; not a man escaped except four hundred who fled on camels. Everything was recovered. Scripture states it plainly: nothing was missing, young or old, son or daughter, or any of the plunder. When some of David's men wanted to deny a share to the two hundred who had stayed with the supplies, David set a rule that outlasted the moment: the share of the one who went to battle will match the share of the one who stayed behind, an ordinance for Israel from that day forward. Ziklag did not stop mattering to David once the crisis passed. Mighty men gathered to him there while he was still banished from Saul's presence, and men of Manasseh joined him there on his way back from the Philistine army. Two days after Saul's death, it was at Ziklag that an Amalekite messenger arrived claiming to have killed Saul, a claim that cost him his life when David later recalled the moment.

Ziklag burned, and David's recovery

1 Samuel 30, in the order it happens

Read 1 Samuel 30, in the order it happens
  1. Ziklag found burned1 Samuel 30:1On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.
  2. Wives and children taken captive1 Samuel 30:3When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned down and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.
  3. David found strength in the LORD his God1 Samuel 30:6And David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of every man grieved for his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.
  4. David inquires of the LORD1 Samuel 30:8and David inquired of the LORD: “Should I pursue these raiders? Will I overtake them?” “Pursue them,” the LORD replied, “for you will surely overtake them and rescue the captives.”
  5. Not a man escaped, except four hundred1 Samuel 30:17And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man escaped, except four hundred young men who fled, riding off on camels.
  6. Nothing was missing1 Samuel 30:19Nothing was missing, young or old, son or daughter, or any of the plunder the Amalekites had taken. David brought everything back.
  7. The rule: equal shares1 Samuel 30:24Who will listen to your proposal? The share of the one who went to battle will match the share of the one who stayed with the supplies. They will share alike.
  8. Gifts sent to the elders of Judah1 Samuel 30:26When David arrived in Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the LORD’s enemies.”

David's time at Ziklag opens in 1 Samuel 27, granted to him by Achish of Gath. This page carries the ground and the outline of what happened there; David's fuller story is told across the site's other David pages.

What happened here, in order

in the order the canon tells it

  1. Achish grants Ziklag to David1 Samuel 27:6That day Achish gave him Ziklag, and to this day it still belongs to the kings of Judah.
  2. Mighty men come to David at Ziklag1 Chronicles 12:1Now these were the men who came to David at Ziklag, while he was still banished from the presence of Saul son of Kish (they were among the mighty men who helped him in battle;
  3. Men of Manasseh defect to David at Ziklag1 Chronicles 12:20When David went to Ziklag, these men of Manasseh defected to him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, chiefs of thousands in Manasseh.
  4. Ziklag found burned by the Amalekites1 Samuel 30:1On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.
  5. David found strength in the LORD his God1 Samuel 30:6And David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of every man grieved for his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.
  6. David recovers his two wives1 Samuel 30:18So David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives.
  7. The lasting rule of equal shares1 Samuel 30:24Who will listen to your proposal? The share of the one who went to battle will match the share of the one who stayed with the supplies. They will share alike.
  8. David back at Ziklag after Saul's death2 Samuel 1:1After the death of Saul, David returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days.
  9. David recalls executing the Amalekite messenger at Ziklag2 Samuel 4:10when someone told me, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was a bearer of good news, I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag. That was his reward for his news!
  10. Ziklag listed in Judah's allotmentJoshua 15:31Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,
  11. Ziklag listed among Simeon's towns within JudahJoshua 19:5Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah,
  12. Ziklag resettled after the exileNehemiah 11:28in Ziklag; in Meconah and its villages;

Ziklag in Scripture

12 verses name it, in 5 books

Open a book to read its mentions here. Text: Berean Standard Bible.

First namedJoshua 15:31Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,Last namedNehemiah 11:28in Ziklag; in Meconah and its villages;

Old TestamentNew Testamentsegment width = share of mentions

Old Testament5 books · 12 mentions

Joshua2 mentions

All of Joshua→

1 Samuel4 mentions

All of 1 Samuel→

2 Samuel2 mentions

All of 2 Samuel→

1 Chronicles3 mentions

All of 1 Chronicles→

Nehemiah1 mention

All of Nehemiah→

Common questions

Why was David living at a Philistine-granted town at all?

David was fleeing Saul and had taken refuge with Achish, king of Gath, who granted him Ziklag so David would not have to live in the royal city. From there David raided nearby peoples but told Achish he had raided Judah's own territory, a morally mixed episode this page presents plainly rather than idealizing.

What does it mean that David found strength in the LORD his God?

The phrase comes at the lowest point of the chapter, after Ziklag was burned, David's wives and children were taken, and his own men spoke of stoning him. No word from the LORD had yet come. David's strength came first, and his inquiry through the ephod followed it.

What is the rule of 1 Samuel 30:24, and why does it matter?

When some of David's men wanted to deny a share of the recovered plunder to the two hundred who had been too exhausted to continue the pursuit, David ruled that the share of the one who fought would match the share of the one who guarded the supplies. Scripture records this as a lasting statute for Israel, not a one-time decision.

Why did David have the Amalekite messenger executed?

The man came to David at Ziklag claiming he had killed Saul himself and expecting a reward for the news. David's response, recorded again in his own words in 2 Samuel 4:10, was to have him put to death at Ziklag for laying hands on the LORD's anointed. The fuller shape of David's dealings with Saul belongs to David's own story elsewhere on the site.

Where is Ziklag, and how does the town appear later in Israel's history?

Ziklag is listed among the towns of Judah's allotment in Joshua 15, then again among towns given to Simeon out of Judah's own territory in Joshua 19, and it was among the towns resettled by Judah's returning exiles after the Babylonian captivity, per Nehemiah 11:28. Its identification with a specific modern site is debated among archaeologists, and this page does not settle the question. Excavators Yosef Garfinkel and Saar Ganor have proposed Khirbet al-Ra'i, a site with Iron Age remains dated to around 1050 BC, as a strong candidate based on its name, geography and history; other archaeologists, including Aren Maeir, dispute the identification because the site sits only a few kilometers from Lachish, well inside Judah's own territory rather than on its Philistine border.

Sources cited

Every source behind MannaFest →

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