LAISII (t,„"34.; r strong,' or a lion,' as in Is.
xxx. 6 ; Aacaci, also in Alex. Amis. or Aais ; Lais). 1. An ancient Phoenician city, occupied by a colony of Sidonians, situated in the rich valley between Hermon and Lebanon, and at one of the great fountains of the Jordan. The earliest name given to it is Leshent (Dei9; Aaxls ; Alex. Accii4), which is probably a different form or inflection of Laish (Josh. xix. 47). The occupation of this place by the Sidonians is easily accounted for. Sidon was a commercial city. Situated on the coast, with only a narrow strip of plain beside it, and the bare and rocky side of Lebanon impending over it, a large and constant supply of food had to be brought from a distance. The plain around Laish is one of the richest in Syria, and the enterprising Place nicians took possession of it, built a town, and placed in it a large colony of labourers, expecting to draw from it an unfailing supply of corn and fruit. Josephus calls this plain ' the great plain of the city of Sidon ' (Antiq. v. 3. t). A road was made across the mountains to it at an im mense cost, and still forms one of the main roads from the sea-coast to the interior. Strong castles were built to protect the road and the colony. Kulat esh-Shukif, one of the strongest fortresses in Syria, stands on a commanding hill over the place where the ancient road crosses the river Leontes ; and it is manifestly of Plicenician origin. So also the great castles of 13anias, four miles east of Laish, and Hunin about six miles west of it, were founded by the PLenicians, as is evident flom the character of their architecture (Handbk., pp. 447, 444 ; Robinson, iii. 5o, 52, 4o3, 371). It is most interesting to discover, after the lapse of more than three thousand years, distinct traces of the wealth and enterprise of the Phcenicians around the site and fertile plain of Laish. For an ac count of the capture of the city by the Danites, its subsequent history and present state, see the article DAN. Laish became chiefly celebrated, under its new name DAN,' as the northern border city of Palestine ; and one of the two seats of Jeroboam's idolatrous worship (Dent. xxxiv. ; Kings xii.
29).
2. (Acauct ; Laisa.) A place mentioned in Is. x. 30. Isaiah, in describing the advance of the Assyrian host upon Jerusalem, enumerates Laish with a number of other towns on the north of the city. It is not quite certain whether the writer is here relating a real event, or detailing a prophetic vision, or giving a solemn warning under a striking allegory ; but however this may be, the descrip tion is singularly graphic, and the line of march is pointed out with remarkable minuteness and pre cision. Aiath, Migron, and Michmash are passed ; the deep ravine which separates the latter from Geba is then crossed • Ramah sees and is afraid, Gibeah of Saul is fled.' The writer now, with great dramatic effect, changes his mode of descrip tion. To terror and flight he appends an exclama tion of alarm ; representing one place as crying, another as listening, and a third as- responding— ' Lift 33p thy voice daughter of Gallim Hearken Laishah! Alas poor Anathoth The words +z,v)po rle6 are rendered in the A. V., and by Grotius, Cause it (thy voice) to be heard unto Laish '— that is, apparently, to the northern border city of Palestine ; but the Hebrew word win scarcely bear this interpretation, and the beauty of the passage is marred by it. Laishah was doubtless a small town on the line of march near Anathoth (see Lowth, Umbreit, Alexander, Gesenius, ad lot.) The name appears to have disappeared entirely, and the site is unknown. There is a Laisa CENeacd) mentioned in Maccab. ix. 5, where Judas encamped ; but we cannot tell whe ther it was identical with that of Isaiah, nor where it was situated.—J. L. P.
LAKUM (01j3; AtoScip.; Alex. AaKob/.6, and eon drpov ; Lecum), a town of Naphtali, near the Jordan, but its exact position is not defined (Josh. xix. 33). The name may perhaps indicate that it was a fortress so placed as to defend some import ant road or pass, if we derive it from the Arabic root to stop up a way.' One reading of the Cod. Alex. might be understood to favour this view ; it renders the Hebrew impH13) by gan dKp011. Perhaps some place near or at the im portant pass of Jacob's Bridge may be referred to.—J. L. P.