Lachis

LACHIS. - An important city of southern Palestine, which was, in various periods, a strategic location and stronghold. Holy Scripture relates that L., inhabited by Canaanites and governed by a king, was taken by Joshua (Josh. 10:3, 31 ff.; 12:11; cf. 15:21). Rehoboam, son of Solomon, fortified it like other cities of Judea around 920 B.C. (2 Chron. 11:9). L. saw the death of King Amaziah (789 B.C.) at the hands of his assassins (2 Kings 18:19; 2 Chron. 25:27). In the time of Isaiah, under Hezekiah, in 702, the Assyrian king Sennacherib besieged it (2 Kings 14:19; 2 Chron. 32:9; cf. Mic. 1:13) and from there sent messengers to Jerusalem to demand its surrender (2 Kings 18:17; 19:18; Isa. 36:2; 37:8). A century later Nebuchadnezzar besieged L. (Jer. 34:7) and took it in 589-588 B.C. After the Babylonian exile L. was again inhabited by Jews (Neh. 11:30).

The name of the city, written La-ki-Ia, occurs several times in the letters (1410-1360 B.C.) of el-'Amarna, which reveal the collusion of L. and its princes with the invaders called Habiru (v. [cf. J. Knudtzon, Die El-Amarna-Tafeln, Leipzig 1907-15, nos. 287 ff., 328 ff., 331, 335]). A vivid image of the city besieged by the Assyrians is given by the contemporary reliefs found in the gates of Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh (H. Gressmann, Altorientalische Bilder, 2nd ed., Leipzig 1927, nos. 137-41; cf. also DB, IV, cols. 15, 23-26).

These biblical and extrabiblical notices naturally arouse the desire to know also the exact position of L., and to derive archaeological information from it. After an initial attempt to identify L. with Tell el-Hes, the identification of L. with Tell ed-Duwejr is generally accepted today, near el-Qubejbeh, 25 km west of Hebron, in the hills between the Philistine plain and the mountains of Judah. Tell ed-Duwejr is one of the most important ruin mounds of Palestine and corresponds perfectly to the importance that L. had in history.

In the period 1932-38 excavations were carried out there under the excellent direction of J. L. Starkey. These excavations have revealed that the origins of the city go back to the 3rd millennium B.C. The first inhabitants settled in the natural caves found on the slope to the west of the tell. When the population then moved to the site of the present tell, they continued for centuries to bury their dead in those caves; the numerous tombs provided abundant archaeological material. In the Middle Bronze period (2000-1600) the city received its first defensive walls. In the Late Bronze period (1600-1200) it enjoyed great prosperity, extending its suburbs as far as the ancient defensive ditch, by then already partially filled in. It is noteworthy that in this ditch, rather than inside the city, during this period a small temple was built. This ditch temple, as the excavators called it, provided valuable contributions to the knowledge of this archaeological era, among others a water basin with an alphabetic inscription of the proto-Sinaitic type. The flourishing of this Canaanite era came to an end with the burning of the city in the 13th century B.C.; this is perhaps to be connected with the Israelite invasion (cf. Josh. 10:3, 31 ff.). In the time of the monarchy, the Israelites set about fortifying the city effectively against any aggression, surrounding it with a double wall and defending the access ramp and the entrance at the southwest corner with a double gate, one outer and one inner, with towers and strong bastions. The clear signs of destruction, however, show that the city could resist neither the Assyrians nor the Babylonians.

Precisely in a layer of rubble and ashes from this last Judean era (ca. 589-588 B.C.), in a passage of the outer gate, the most brilliant, absolutely unique discovery was made in 1935, of 18 ostraca (v.), on which were written with a firm and expert hand some Hebrew words in the ancient alphabet. In 1938 three other ostraca were found. The majority of these documents consists of letters, addressed to the defender of L., and in part perfectly legible. They are the first personal pre-exilic documents found in Palestine. They reflect the social and political life of the time of Jeremiah and of the tottering kingdom of Judah, they speak of prophets, of the king, of a minister of the king, of Jerusalem, of a journey to Egypt, etc. They mirror the language spoken at that time in Judea: the same Hebrew language, perfectly classical, that is found in the editions of the Law and the Prophets. The ostraca moreover illustrate the manner in which the biblical text was written at that time.

They therefore have paleographic, philological, historical and biblical importance. - See pl. XLIX.

Ernesto Vogt