LACHISH (^'5⅛ l ), a town in the low country of Judah (Josh. XV. 39), and one of the strong fortresses that offered an obstinate resistance to Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. xxxiv. 7). Γt was to Lachish that Amaziah fled from the conspiracy raised against him at Jerusalem, and there he was killed (2 Kings xiv. 19). From an obscure allusion in Micah i. 13 it would appear that the place was a chariot city. For this it was doubtless recommended by its position in the rich low country, and the same reason, together with the fact that it commanded the line of advance from Egypt, is sufficient to explain why it was the headquarters of Sennacherib during part of his Judaean campaign (2 Kings xviii. 14; Isa. xxxvii. 8). The name of Lachish occurs on the monuments of Sennacherib, and a bas-relief now in the British Museum, representing the king receiving its spoils, is given in G. Smith’s History of Sennacherib (1878). Lachish was reoccupied by the Jews after the captivity (Neh. xi. 30), and the Onomastica place it 7 miles from Eleutheropolis on the southern road. The site has not been identified. Umm Lâkis does not agree with the statement of the Onomastica, and the name (“Mother of Itch ”) has no connexion with the Hebrew, while El Hasy, suggested by Conder, has still less to recommend it. As the cities in this district were built of brick, the ruins may probably have all but disappeared.

a city of Palestine, Joshua x, 23; xv, 39. Sennacherib besieged Lachish, but did not make himself master of it. From thence it was that he sent Rabshakeh against Jerusalem, 2 Kings xviii, 17; xix, 8; 2 Chron. xxxii, 9.