SICELEG (Hebr. Siglagh). — A city assigned to the tribe of Judah in the division of the Promised Land (Jos. 15:31), later given to the tribe of Simeon (ibid. 19:5).
In the time of Saul (q.v.) it was under the control of the Philistine king Achish, who gave it to David (q.v.) when he took refuge among the Philistines; in exchange David was to protect the territory from southern raiders and take part in Philistine wars. For this reason it remained thereafter a “property of the crown” of the kings of Judah. David stayed there for 16 months (1 Sam. 27:5 ff.) until it was burned by the Amalekites (ibid. 30:1 ff.).
The name (foreign?) has not survived in local place-names. Some have identified it with Hirtet Zubeligah (18 km east-southeast of Gaza), which, however, is not in the Negeb (Jos. 15:31) but in the Shephelah. Since A. Alt, Tell el-Huwelikh (c. 18 km north-north-east of Beersheba) has been more readily proposed.