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LACHISH.—A town in the south country of Judah referred to several times in the Tell el-Amarna tablets. In the Biblical records it first appears as joining the coalition headed by the king of Jerusalem against the Gibeonites (Jos_10:3), and as being in consequence reduced by Joshua (Jos_10:31) in spite of the assistance given to it by the king of Gezer (Jos_10:33). It is enumerated among the cities of the tribe of Judah (Jos_15:39). Rehoboam fortified it (2Ch_11:9). Hither Amaziah, king of Judah, fled from conspirators, and here he was murdered (2Ki_14:19). In the reign of Hezekiah, Sennacherib took Lachish, and while he was quartered there Hezekiah sent messengers to him to make terms (2Ki_18:13-17). Sennacherib’s Lachish campaign is commemorated by a sculpture from Nineveh, now in the British Museum. Lachish and Azekah were the last cities to stand against the king of Babylon (Jer_34:7). Lachish was one of the towns settled by the children of Judah after the Exile (Neh_11:30). Micah’s denunciation of Lachish as ‘the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion’ (Mic_1:13) doubtless refers to incidents of which we are quite ignorant.
Lachish was identified by Conder with Tell el-Hesy, an important mound in the Gaza district, which was partially excavated with success by Flinders Petrie and Bliss for the Palestine Exploration Fund (1890–1893). Another site in the neighbourhood, of Roman date, called Umm Lakis, probably represents a later dwelling of the representatives of the ancient Lachishites, and preserves the name of the city.
R. A. S. Macalister.