KEILAH

KEILAH citadel, a city in the lowlands of Judah (Joshua 15=>44). David rescued it from the attack of the Philistines (1 Samuel 23=>1-8); but the inhabitants proving unfaithful to him, in that they sought to deliver him up to Saul (13), he and his men “departed from Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go.” They fled to the hill Hareth, about 3 miles to the east, and thence through Hebron to Ziph (q.v.). “And David was in the wilderness of Ziph, in a wood” (1 Samuel 23=>15). Here Jonathan sought him out, “and strengthened his hand in God.” This was the last interview between David and Jonathan (23=>16-18). It is the modern Khurbet Kila. Others identify it with Khuweilfeh, between Beit Jibrin (Eleutheropolis) and Beersheba, mentioned in the Amarna tablets.