("rib".) One of the 14 towns that originally belonged to Benjamin (Jos_18:28). The last resting place of the bones of Saul and Jonathan (2Sa_21:14); probably therefore the original seat of the Kish family. Gibeah was Saul's residence after becoming king.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Ze'lah. (a rib). A city in the allotment of Benjamin, Jos_18:28, contained the family tomb of Kish, the father of Saul. 2Sa_21:14. Perhaps the same as Zelzah.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
(Heb. Tsela', צֵלִע [in pause, צֵלָע in Samuel], a rib; Sept. in Joshua Σηλά, in Samuel Πλευρὰ), a city in the tribe of Benjamin (Jos_18:28, where it is men'tioned in the south-western section between Taralah and Ha-Eleph); it contained the family tomb of Kish, the father of Saul (2Sa_21:14), in which the bones of Saul and Jonathan, and also apparently of the two sons and five grandsons of Saul sacrificed to Jehovah on the hill of Gibeah, at last found their resting-place (comp. 2Sa_21:13). The ancient geographers seem ignorant of the locality (Reland, Palaest. p. 1058); but1 modern travelers are inclined to identify it with Beit Jala (Wilson, Lands of the Bible, 1, 401; Bonar, Mission, p. 234), a considerable Christian village opposite Rachel's Tomb (Robinson, Bibl. Res. 2, 2 sq.). The suggestion of rabbi Schwarz (Palest. p. 128) is too vague. Lieut. Conder's suggestion of Rumm is equally a venture (Tent Work in Palest. 2, 340). SEE ZELZAH.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.