Overview
Zelah (also spelled Zela) was a city assigned to the tribe of Benjamin during Joshua's conquest and land distribution of Canaan. It gained spiritual significance as the burial site of King Saul, his son Jonathan, and other members of the royal household after their bodies were recovered and given proper burial.
Key Scriptures
"And the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, and Beth-hoglah, and the valley of Keziz, and Beth-arabah, and Zemaraim, and Bethel, and Avvim, and Parah, and Ophrah, and Chephar-ammoni, and Ophni, and Gaba; twelve cities with their villages" (Joshua 18:21-24, KJV).
"They took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged. And they buried them in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the tomb of Kish his father" (2 Samuel 21:13-14, NASB).
Application
Zelah reminds believers that even in judgment and death, God's people receive honorable burial and remembrance, affirming the dignity of those called by His name.