the Third Week of Advent
Click here to learn more!
Bible Encyclopedias
Lachish
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or a town of great importance in S. Palestine, often mentioned in the Tell el-Amarna tablets. It was destroyed by Joshua for joining the league against the Gibeonites (Joshua x 3 1 -33) and assigned to the tribe of Judah (xv. 39). Rehoboam fortified it (2 Chron. xi. 9). King Amaziah having fled hither, was here murdered by conspirators (2 Kings xiv. 19). Sennacherib here conducted a campaign (2 Kings xviii. 13) during which Hezekiah endeavoured to make terms with him: the campaign is commemorated by bas-reliefs found in Nineveh, now in the British Museum (see G. Smith's History of Sennacherib, p. 69). It was one of the last cities that resisted Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. xxxiv. 7). The meaning of Micah's denunciation (i. 13) of the city is unknown. The Onomasticon places it 7 m. from Eleutheropolis on the S. road, which agrees with the generally received identification, Tell el-Ilesi, an important mound excavated for the Palestine Exploration Fund by Petrie and Bliss, 1890-1893. The name is preserved in a small Roman site in the neighbourhood, Umm Lakis, which probably represents a later dwelling-place of the descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the city.
See W. M. Flinders Petrie, Tell el-Hesy, and F. J. Bliss, A Mound of many Cities, both published by the Palestine Exploration Fund.
(R A. S, M.)
These files are public domain.
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Lachish'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/l/lachish.html. 1910.
