LACHISH, (Heb. Lalash). A city of Judah, which on several occasions played an important part in Hebrew history. The King of Laehish and four allies were routed by Joshua (.Toshua, x. 1-33) and Laehish was taken. The city was given to the tribe of Judah (ih. xv. 39), and in the time of Rehoboam became a strong fortress ( H. Chron. xi. 9). It was to Laehish that King .Amaziah fled when a conspiracy obliged him to leave Jerusalem. and he was slain there (11. Kings, xiv. 19). There is a remarkable reference to the city in a discourse of the prophet Micah (i. 13), who denounces the place as the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion," in which all the transgressions of Israel were food. Sennacherib in his raid on the Kingdom of Judah took Lachish, together with other fortified cities, and on his return to As syria had a sculpture prepared in which he depicts himself seated on his throne at Laehish and receiving the .Jewish captives. It was to Lachish that King ITezekiah of Judah sent mes sengers with gifts and promises in the hope, of inducing Sennaehe•ib to spare Jerusalem (TT.
Kings xviii. 14-16) and abandon the campaign. Laehish was besieged by .Nebuchadnezzar on his invasion of Palestine (Jer. xxxiv. 7), and is mentioned among the cities resettled by the Israelites on their return from the Bahylonian captivity (Neh. xi. 30). Flinders Petrie and Bliss have identified Laehish with Tell el-nosy. a mound of ruins, the situation of which corre sponds to that required for Laehish, 16 miles cast of Gaza. The remains of eight cities, one above another, were found on excavating this mound, and the history they indicate for the spot agrees with what is known of Lachish to such an extent as to make the identification all but certain. Consult: Petrie, Tell el-Ilesy (London, 1891) ; Bliss, A Mound of Many Cities (London, 1894) ; Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament, vol. ii. (London, 1885-88).