LACHISH (t:',4n, perhaps .,--- obsti , nate ; Sept. Aaxfs ; Alex. Aaxels ; Lachis), an ancient royal city of the Canaanites, whose king, at the request of Adonizedec, king of Jerusalem, joined the alliance against Joshua and the Israelites (Josh.
x. 3). The allied forces having been conquered at Bethhoron, and the five kings slain at Makkedah (ver. 16, etc.), Joshua proceeded with the conquest of the land. Makkedah was first taken, then Libnah, and then Lachish (ver. 31, 32) though it received aid from Horam, king of Gezer (ver. 33). Aftenvards the Israelites marched on Eglon, which ',vas only a very short distance from the former, as they were able to capture it the same day (ver. 35). Lachish was situated in the Shephelah, or plain of Philistia bordering on the mountains of Judah (Josh. xv. 33), and was allotted, along with Eglon and others, to the tribe of Judah (ver. 39). The situation of Lachish on the south-western frontier, within the borders of the warlike Philistines, exposed to the first assaults of the powerful Egypt ians, and on the line of march between that country' and Syria, made it a strategic post of great import ance. It was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron.
xi. 9), and was then, and afterwards, considered one of the principal strongholds of Judah. It would seem also, from an incidental remark of Micah (i. 13), that it was a station for chariots, which might be employed with great effect in the open level plain, but could not be used among the rugged mountrins round Jerusalem. When the conspiracy was organized in Jerusalem against the unfortunate king Amaziah, he fled to Lachish, probably in the hope of escaping to Egypt ; but lie was pursued and slain (2 Kings xiv. 19 ; 2 Chron. xxv. 27).
Lachish was chiefly celebrated from its connec tion with the campaigns of Sennacherib. Ahaz, king of Judah, being hard pressed by the Syrians, applied for aid to Assyria, and became tributary to that great kingdom (2 Kings xvi. 7 ; B.C. 74o). Hezekiah, his successor, threw off the foreign yoke (xviii. 7); consequently in the fourteenth year of his reign, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, marched against Judah, captured many of its strongholds, and besieged Lachisk. IIezekiah was afraid, and appeased the conqueror by a large present (ver. 14-16); he also made vigorous preparations for the defence of Jerusalem, and entered into an alliance :with Egypt (2 Chron. xxxii.; Is. xxxvi., seq.) It
would seem that, after the submission of Heze kiali, Sennacherib captured Lachish, and marched in force against the Egyptians (Joseph. Antiq. x. 1. 1; cf. Is. xx. i-4 ; see also Rawlinson's Hero dotus,i. 477). A second time Sennacherib attacked Lachish ; but whether on his return from his Egypt ian campaign, or after he had paid a visit to Nine veh. cannot now be determined. While pressing the siege in person, he detached three of his officers with a large force to Jerusalem, to demand its sur render (2 Kings xviii. 17 ; 2 Chron. xxxii. 9, seq.) The terms they proposed were so humiliating, and the letter they bore was so blasphemous, that the Lord promised to deliver his people by a miracle from the proud conqueror. Before the return of the officers the siege of Lachish was raised (2 Kings xix. 8), and Sennachcrib marched on Libnah.
There he suddenly heard that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, was advancing against him er. 9); but before a battle was fought the terrible calamity predicted by Isaiah came upon him : The angel of the Lord smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand (Is. xxxvii. 36). Sennacherib immediately fled, and the Egyptians represented the miraculous destruc tion as the work of their own deities, and com memorated the event in their own way (Herod.
14.1 ; Rawlinson's Herod., i. 480). It is a re markable fact that on the tablets and sculptures discovered by Layard in the palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh, there is a full delineation and description of the siege of Lachish. The city is represented as having double walls, with battlements, towers, and outworks. Round it mounds are thrown up, and the whole force of Assyria—archers, spearmen, slingers, with a reserve of cavalry and chariots—is drawn up in order of battle. A part of the chy has fallen, and the conquerors are employed int paling prisoners and dividing the spoil ; while the chiefs of the conquered city are brought before the victorious monarch. Above the king's bead is the following inscription in cuneiform characters : Sennacherib, the mighty king, king of the country of Assyria, sittin,,a on the throne of judgment before the city of Lachish — I give permission for its slaughter ' (Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 148-152). This is one of the most interesting and important confirmations of Scripture history result. ing from modern research.