zik'-lag (tsiqelagh, tsiqelagh (2Sa 1:1), tsiqelagh (1Ch 12:1,20); usually in the Septuagint Sekelak, or Sikelag): A town assigned (Jos 19:5;1Ch 4:30) to Simeon, but inJos 15:31named, between Hornah and Madmannah, as one of the cities of the Negeb of Judah, "toward the border of Edom." It is said (1Sa 27:6) to have remained a royal city. InNe 11:28it is in the list of towns reinhabited by the returning children of Judah. Its chief associations are with David. Achish the Philistine king of Gath gave it to David as a residence (1Sa 27:6f; 1Ch 12:1,20); it was raided by the Amalekites, on whom David took vengeance and so recovered his property (1Sa 30:14,26); here the messenger who came to announce Saul's death was slain (2Sa 1:1;4:10).
The site of this important place is not yet fixed with certainty; Conder proposed Zucheilika, a ruin 11 miles South-Southeast of Gaza, and 4 miles North of Wady es-Sheri'a, which may be the "Brook Besor" (1Sa 30:9,10,21); Rowland (1842) proposed `Asluj, a heap of ruins South of Beersheba and 7 miles to the East of Bered. Neither site is entirely satisfactory. See Williams, Holy City, I, 463-68; BR, II, 201, PEF, 288, Sh XX.
E. W. G. Masterman