Keilah

Keilah (meaning citadel or fortress) was a city in the Shephelah lowlands of Judah, listed in Joshua 15:44. It gained prominence in the narrative of David's outlaw period: when the Philistines were raiding the threshing floors of Keilah, David inquired of God and received permission to attack and relieve the city, rescuing it despite his men's reluctance. David successfully drove off the Philistines, saving Keilah and taking their livestock as spoil.

The rescue proved a double test of loyalty: Saul immediately marched to besiege the city to capture David, and David inquired of God again, learning that the men of Keilah—the very people he had saved—would hand him over to Saul to save themselves. David and his six hundred men departed before Saul arrived. This episode illustrated both David's generosity toward those outside his immediate following and the cold calculus of political loyalty in a city that owed him its survival. Keilah is generally identified with Khirbet Qila in the Judean foothills southwest of Bethlehem.