Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the Bible: Lod, Lydda
Subjects in this Topic:
LOD, LYDDA.—A town in the territory of Benjamin, not apparently of pre-Israelite origin, but built (1Ch_8:12), along with One, by the Benjamite Shemed (but Luthen and Auanau occur side by side in the lists of Thothmes iii.). Elsewhere it is mentioned only in the post-Captivity lists (Ezr_2:33, Neh_7:37; Neh_11:35); and in connexion with the healing of Æneas at this place (Act_9:32). Its inhabitants were enslaved by Cassius, and freed by Antony (Jos. [Note: Josephus.] Ant. XIV. xi. 2, xii. 2). Cestius Gallus burned it, and it afterwards surrendered to Vespasian (BJ. II. xix. 1, IV. viii. 1). In the Middle Ages it was the seat of a bishopric. It is a centre of the cultus of that strange being called by the Christians Saint George (to whom the church is dedicated), and by the Muslims el-Khudr—probably an ancient spirit of vegetation. It was known as Diospolis in the Byzantine period, but the dirty modern town which represents the ancient site retains the old name Ludd.
R. A. S. Macalister.