Achish ( ''ʾāḵīš'',

Philistine Philistines (; Septuagint, LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philist ...

: 𐤀𐤊𐤉𐤔 *''ʾākayūš'', Akkadian: 𒄿𒅗𒌑𒋢 ''i-ka-ú-su'') is a name used in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Philistine Philistines (; Septuagint, LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philist ...

rulers of Gath. It is perhaps only a general title of royalty, applicable to the Philistine kings. The two kings of Gath, which most scholars identify as Tell es-Safi, are: * The monarch, described as "Achish the king of Gath", with whom

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

sought refuge when he fled from

Saul Saul (; , ; , ; ) was a monarch of ancient Israel and Judah and, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the first king of the United Monarchy, a polity of uncertain historicity. His reign, traditionally placed in the late eleventh c ...

. He is called

Abimelech Abimelech (also spelled Abimelek or Avimelech; ) was the generic name given to all Philistine kings in the Hebrew Bible from the time of Abraham through King David. In the Book of Judges, Abimelech, son of Gideon, of the Tribe of Manasseh, is ...

, meaning "father of the king", in the superscription of

Psalm 34 Psalm 34 is the 34th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth." The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew B ...

. It was probably this same king, or his son with the same name, described as "Achish, the son of Maoch", to whom David reappeared a second time at the head of a band of 600 warriors. The king assigned David to Ziklag, whence he carried on war against the surrounding tribes while lying to Achish that he was waging war against Israel to garner his support. Achish had great confidence in the valour and fidelity of David, but, at the objection of the other Philistine rulers, did not permit him to go to battle along with the Philistine hosts. David remained with Achish a year and four months. According to the Bible, in , David was greatly afraid of Achish because the servants of Achish recognized him. This led him to feign insanity to avoid harm from the King of Gath. * Another king of Gath, described as "Achish, son of Maacah," probably a grandson of the foregoing king, is referred to during

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

's reign. I Kings 2:39–46 mentions two servants of

Shimei Shimei ( ''Šīmʿī'') is the name of a number of persons referenced in the Hebrew Bible and Rabbinical literature. *The second son of Gershon and grandson of Levi (; ; ). The family of the Shimeites, as a branch of the tribe of Levi, is ment ...

fleeing to this king in Gath, and Shimei going to Gath to bring them back in breach of Solomon's orders. The consequence was that Solomon put Shimei to death. The Latin transliteration "Achish" represents the

begadkefat Begadkefat (also begedkefet) is the phenomenon of lenition affecting the non-emphatic consonant, emphatic stop consonants of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic when they are preceded by a vowel and not gemination, geminated. The name is also given to si ...

(aspiration over a medial stop) in Aramaic and in post-Biblical Hebrew. Before the strong influence of Aramaic over Hebrew, which occurred after the Babylonian captivity, would have been pronounced: "Akish." In the seventh-century BCE Ekron Royal Dedicatory Inscription, the name Akish appears as "son of Padi, son of , son of Ada, son of Ya'ir"; Akish by then held enough authority in Ekron to dedicate a temple. A similar name, ''Ikausu'', appears as king of Ekron in seventh-century BCE Assyrian inscriptions, as does Padi. Scholars agree that these two are the same men,Berlant, Stephen (2008), "The Mysterious Ekron Goddess Revisited," Journal of The Ancient Near Eastern Society vol. 31 pp. 15–21 although a royal status cannot yet be confirmed for their ancestors Ysd, Ada, and Ya'ir. This appears to indicate that either the name "Akish" 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.

In media

Achish of Gath is a supporting role in the 17th-century opera '' David et Jonathas'', sung by a

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

. Achish king of Gath appears in the 1985 film ''

King David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...

'', starring

Richard Gere Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began appearing in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in ''Looking for Mr. Goodbar (film), Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Hea ...

. Achish appears in the streaming series '' House of David'', played by Iraqi actor Alexander Uloom.

References

{{Authority control Philistine kings Monarchs in the Hebrew Bible Gath (city)

In media

See also

References