Keilah
citadel, a city in the lowlands of Judah (Josh. 15:44). David
rescued it from the attack of the Philistines (1 Sam. 23:1-8);
but the inhabitants proving unfaithful to him, in that they
sought to deliver him up to Saul (13), he and his men "departed
from Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go." They fled to
the hill Hareth, about 3 miles to the east, and thence through
Hebron to Ziph (q.v.). "And David was in the wilderness of Ziph,
in a wood" (1 Sam. 23:15). Here Jonathan sought him out, "and
strengthened his hand in God." This was the last interview
between David and Jonathan (23:16-18). It is the modern Khurbet
Kila. Others identify it with Khuweilfeh, between Beit Jibrin
(Eleutheropolis) and Beersheba, mentioned in the Amarna tablets.