SICELEG (Heb. Şiqlagh). - A city assigned to the tribe of Judah in the division of the Promised Land (Josh. 15:31), then given to that of Simeon (ibid. 19:5).

In the time of Saul (v.) it was in the power of the Philistine king Achish, who gave it to David (v.) when he took refuge among the Philistines: in exchange he was to protect the territory from the raiders of the south and take part in the Philistine wars. For this reason it also remained afterward "property of the crown" of the kings of Judah; David remained there 16 months (1 Sam. 27:5 ff.) until it was put to the flames by the Amalekites (ibid. 30:1 ff.).

The name (foreign?) has not survived in the local toponymy. It was identified by some with Şirbet Zubajliqah (18 km east-southeast of Gaza), which, however, is not located in the Negeb (Josh. 15:31), but rather in the Shephelah. After A. Alt, Tell el-Huwejifeh (about 18 km north-northeast of Beersheba) is more readily thought of.

Bibliography

BIBL.: F.-M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, II, Paris 1938, p. 465.

Gino Bressan

@incollection{ec11_siceleg_ebr_siqlagh, author = {Bressan, Gino}, title = {Siceleg (Ebr. ŞIqlagh)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XI}, pages = {516}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/siceleg-ebr-siqlagh} }

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