Place
Keilah
city in Judah
A fortified Shephelah city rescued by David from the Philistines, whose fickle inhabitants planned to hand him over to Saul.
Who or what is this?
Keilah lay in the lowlands of , identified with the tribal list in 15:44. It becomes prominent in 1 23, where the Philistines are raiding its threshing floors. , though himself a fugitive, inquires of God and leads his men to defeat the Philistines and relieve the city. When Saul hears David is in a walled town and advances to besiege it, David again inquires of God through the ephod and learns that the men of Keilah would indeed surrender him. He and his men — now numbering about six hundred — escape before Saul arrives. The episode illustrates the dangerous ambiguity of David's status and the unreliability of those he protected. Keilah also appears in 3:17–18 among the districts whose leaders helped repair the walls of .
People, places, and events in this story
These connections are explicitly linked in this entity's source description.
Places in this story
Modern location: Khirbet Qila. Coordinates from OpenBible.info.
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Where this appears in Scripture
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