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Lachish (2)

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Lachish

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Lachmann, Karl

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On the identification of this place, Lieut. Conder remarks (Tent Work, 2:168):

"We visited Um Lags, the site proposed by Dr. Robinson, and could not but conclude that no ancient or important city ever stood there, nor has the name any radical similarity to that of Lachish. [This is surely a mistake, for the initial L is at least the same, and no more can be said in favor of his own proposal.] Much nearer, indeed, would be the title el-Hesy, applying to a large ancient site with springs, near the foot of the hills, about in the proper position for Lachish. The modern site means a water-pit, and, if it is a corruption of Lachish, it would afford a second instance of changse which is well known to have taken place in the case of Michmash- the k being changed to a guttural h. The distance from Beit Jibrin to Tell el-Hesy is not much greater than that given in the Onomasticon for Lachish, while the proximity of Eglon ('Ajlan), and the position south of Belt Jibrin, on a principal road, near the hills, and by one of the only springs in the plain, all seem to be points strongly confirming this view."

Tell el-Hesy is laid down on the Ordnance Map ten and a half miles south- west of Beit Jibrin, and is described in the accompanying Memoirs (3:290) as "a truncated cone, with a broad, flat top, and traces of ruins round its- base. There are several springs in the neighborhood, but the water is bad." This site was known in the Middle Ages as Alkassi (Boheddin, Vita Salad. page 228). But Tristram (Bible Places, page 36) and Trelawmney Saunders (Map of the O.T.) still adhere to UmLakhis, which lies three miles north-west of Tell el-Hesy, and twelve and a half miles west by south from Belt Jibrin. Its remains are thus described by Gudrin (Judaea, 2:299):

"These ruins cover a space of about a kilometre and a half in circumference. They are situated partly on a hillock, and partly in the midst of fields, either cultivated or bristling with thistles and brambles. A multitude of excavations show that stones, the fragments of ancient buildings, have been taken from the place. There remains, however, a good quantity of materials scattered on the ground. In one of these holes I found a Corinthial capital of grayish white marble, waiting for some one to carry it off. Fifteen ancient silos continue to serve the Arabs of the neighborhood."