town or village

Keilah

• Today Khirbet Qila

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History

Keilah is Khirbet Qila, a terraced hill in the eastern Shephelah, about 11 km east of Beth Guvrin, above the Wadi es-Sur, an arm of the Valley of Elah. The Arab village of Qila beside it keeps the old name, and nineteenth-century explorers, among them Victor Guérin and the Survey of Western Palestine, identified the site from it. Adullam lies about 4 km to the north.

Keilah already appears in the Amarna letters of the fourteenth century BC as Qiltu, a town fought over by Abdi-Heba, ruler of Jerusalem, and Shuwardata, a ruler in the lowland. Shuwardata complains that Abdi-Heba wrote to the men of Qiltu, offering them silver to follow him; Abdi-Heba writes in turn that Milkilu and Tagi brought troops into Qiltu against him.

In the Book of Joshua Keilah is one of the towns of the lowland of Judah. When the Philistines were robbing its threshingfloors, David asked the LORD, went down with his men and "saved the inhabitants of Keilah"; Abiathar the priest joined him there with the ephod. Saul said that David was "shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars", and called out the people to besiege it. David asked the LORD whether the men of Keilah would hand him over, was answered "They will deliver thee up", and left with about six hundred men. After the exile Hashabiah and Bavai, each the ruler of half the district of Keilah, repaired the wall of Jerusalem under Nehemiah.

Josephus retells David's rescue of Keilah. In the early fourth century AD Eusebius knew Keilah as a village called Kela about eight miles east of Eleutheropolis on the road to Hebron, where the tomb of the prophet Habakkuk was shown.

Scripture: Josh 15:44; 1 Sam 23:1–6; 1 Sam 23:7–13; Neh 3:17–18

Checked against its sources; not yet read by a historian.

Verses (15)

Josh 15:44

And Keilah, and Achzib, and Mareshah; nine cities with their villages:

1 Sam 23:1

Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshingfloors.

1 Sam 23:2

Therefore David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the LORD said unto David, Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah.

1 Sam 23:3

And David’s men said unto him, Behold, we be afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?

1 Sam 23:4

Then David enquired of the LORD yet again. And the LORD answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand.

1 Sam 23:5

So David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

1 Sam 23:6

And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.

1 Sam 23:7

And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars.

1 Sam 23:8

And Saul called all the people together to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.

1 Sam 23:10

Then said David, O LORD God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake.

1 Sam 23:11

Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O LORD God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the LORD said, He will come down.

1 Sam 23:12

Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver thee up.

1 Sam 23:13

Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he forbare to go forth.

Neh 3:17

After him repaired the Levites, Rehum the son of Bani. Next unto him repaired Hashabiah, the ruler of the half part of Keilah, in his part.

Neh 3:18

After him repaired their brethren, Bavai the son of Henadad, the ruler of the half part of Keilah.

King James Version