Achish in Wikipedia
is a name used in the Hebrew Bible for two Philistine rulers
of Gath. It may mean "angry,"[citation needed] and is
perhaps only a general title of royalty, applicable to the
Philistine kings. The two kings of Gath, which is identified
by most scholars as Tell es-Safi, are:
The monarch with whom David sought refuge when he fled from
Saul (1 Sam. 21:10-15). He is called Abimelech (meaning
"father of the king") in the superscription of Ps. 34. It
was probably this same king, or his son with the same name,
to whom David a second time repaired at the head of a band
of 600 warriors. The king assigned David to Ziklag, whence
he carried on war against the surrounding tribes (1 Sam.
27:5-12). Achish had great confidence in the valour and
fidelity of David (1 Sam. 28:1,2), but at the instigation of
his courtiers did not permit him to go up to battle along
with the Philistine hosts (1 Sam. 29:2-11). David remained
with Achish a year and four months.
Another king of Gath, probably grandson of the foregoing, to
whom the two servants of Shimei fled. This led Shimei to go
to Gath in pursuit of them, and the consequence was that
Solomon put him to death (1 Kings 2:39-46).
In the 7th century BC royal inscription from Tel Miqne-Ekron
the name Achish appears, along with four other names of the
local kings of Ekron. A similar name (IKAUSU) appears as a
king of Ekron in 7th century BC Assyrian inscriptions. This
apparently refers to the same king of Ekron.
This appears to indicate that either the name Achish was a
common name for Philistine kings, used both at Gath and
Ekron, or, as Naveh has suggested, that the editor of the
biblical text used a known name of a Philistine king from
the end of the Iron Age (Achish of Ekron) as the name of a
king(s) of Gath in narratives relating to earlier periods...
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