1. 1 Samuel 27:6 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What does the narrator mean when he says that the town of Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since?

1 Samuel 27:6 (ESV)

6 So that day Achish gave him Ziklag. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.

The narrator states that the city of Ziklag was part of the southern kingdom of Judah at the time of writing. Most likely, this would mean that this section of 1 Samuel was completed in the days of Rehoboam.1 After approximately, 925 BC, the city of Ziklag was not controlled by a king of Judah. First it fell into the hands of Shishak (cf. 1 Kings 14:25) and after him, it was only briefly controlled by Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:9) later coming under the control of Assyrian rulers.2