Lachish

Lachish
A part of	Judah
Government	Part of the Kingdom of Judah
Location	Northwestern Judah

Lachish was a city in ancient Israel, located within the territory of the tribe of Judah. It was one of the most important cities in the Kingdom of Judah, after Jerusalem.

Conquest of Canaan

Before the Israelite conquest, Lachish was a Canaanite city-state with its own king.

After the Israelites, led by Joshua, had defeated Jericho and Ai, and had made peace with Gibeon, the Canaanite leaders had great fear of Israel. In an attempt to stop the Israelite conquest, the king of Jerusalem sent to the king of Lachish, as well as the kings of Hebron, Jarmuth, and Eglon, to attack Gibeon. Joshua led the Israelites to rescue Gibeon, and God gave the Canaanites into their hands. Moreover, God cast down large stones from the sky to kill the fleeing Canaanites. As the battle progressed, in order to have enough time to completely destroy the five Canaanite armies, Joshua asked God to stop the normal progression of day and night. Amazingly, God stopped the Sun and Moon in the sky, giving the Israelites enough time to win a complete victory.

But the king of Lachish, along with the other four kings, hid themselves in the cave at Makkedah. After the battle, Joshua brought them out and executed them, and built a stone monument at the entrance of the cave, to remind the Israelites of the miraculous battle.

Soon after this battle, with the army of Lachish already defeated, Joshua led Israel to conquer and capture Lachish, and God gave Lachish into the hand of Israel.

After Joshua had conquered Canaan, he set about to divide the territory between the tribes of Israel, according to the will of God. Lachish was included in the territorial allotment of the tribe of Judah.

Kingdom of Judah

During the reign of Rehoboam, the first king of Judah, he built fortifications around many cities, including Lachish.

In 767 BC, some people of Jerusalem made a conspiracy against King Amaziah of Judah, so Amaziah fled from Jerusalem to Lachish. But the conspirators pursued him to Lachish and assassinated him there. The people then brought Amaziah's body back to Jerusalem on horses, so he could be buried with his fathers in the City of David. Amaziah's son Uzziah succeeded him as king.

During the reign of the wicked king Ahaz, Judah was made a vassal state of the Assyrian Empire, but Ahaz's godly son and successor, Hezekiah, revolted against Assyria. In response, in 701 BC, Sennacherib king of Assyria invaded Judah. Sennacherib besieged Lachish, and there Hezekiah sent to Sennacherib and paid tribute to make the Assyrians leave. But this did not make Sennacherib withdraw, and he sent a large army led by some of his top officials to Jerusalem from Lachish, demanding that Hezekiah completely surrender, and the Assyrian officials made a speech in which they mocked Judah and insulted God. But the Assyrians would not be victorious. In the night, the angel of the LORD killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, and Sennacherib was forced to completely withdraw from Judah.

The prophet Micah prophesied coming destruction to Judah, and specifically mentioned the city of Lachish.

When the Babylonians invaded Judah, Jerusalem, Lachish, and Azekah were the last fortified cities that remained standing. Ultimately, the wickedness of Judah led God to allow the Babylonians to completely conquer the entire nation.

After the Exile

Lachish was repopulated when the Jews were allowed to return to Judah after the Babylonian exile. It was one of the main towns of Judah in the time of Nehemiah, and the people lived in it and the fields around it.