Ziklag
צִקְלַג
Where was biblical Ziklag? At Tel Sera', on Nahal Gerar northwest of Beersheba. I mark it debated. The case for the main rival site is below.
David came home to Ziklag and found it burned, every wife and child carried off by Amalekite raiders. His own men talked of stoning him. He chased the raiders down, brought everyone back, and made a rule for Israel: the men who guard the baggage share the spoil equally with the men who fight.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Tel Sera', on Nahal Gerar northwest of Beersheba
- How sure
- Debated Two or more serious candidates.
- Other names
- Tziklag, Siqlag, Tel Sera', Tell esh-Shari'a
- Location
- 31.3909° N, 34.6809° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
No inscription names Ziklag, and people have proposed at least fourteen sites. So we start with the text. Joshua lists Ziklag among the towns of the Negev, and again among the towns of Simeon. The Book of Samuel makes it a Philistine country town, close enough to Gath that King Achish could hand it to David. The Bible adds that this is why Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since.
Tel Sera' fits that picture. It is a big mound in the western Negev, above the place where Nahal Gerar meets Nahal Qeama. Excavators found Philistine pottery there, which is what you expect in a town a Philistine king could give away. David was still living here when a runner brought him the news that Saul was dead.
The Arabic name of the tel is Tell esh-Shari'a. Shari'a means law. One proposal hears in it an echo of David's rule about the spoil. It's a lovely thought. It isn't evidence. The case for Tel Sera' rests on the Negev setting and the Philistine finds, and that makes it a good fit, not a proven one.
The strongest rival is Khirbet al-Ra'i near Lachish. Excavators found a Philistine town there followed by a Judean one, which suits a Philistine town that passed to Judah. But it lies in the lowlands, the Shephelah, and the town lists put Ziklag in the Negev. An older proposal, Tel Halif by Kibbutz Lahav, has largely been abandoned.
Visiting today
Tel Sera' is open to walkers. There are no reconstructed remains, just the mound and the view over the two streambeds.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Ziklag on the interactive map →
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- Gerar 7 km west
- Beersheba (Be'er Sheva) 20 km southeast
- Sheba (Tel Be’er Sheva) 22 km southeast
- Lachish 25 km northeast
- Gaza 28 km northwest
- Mareshah 31 km northeast