Lachish

"Impregnable, a royal Canaanitish city in the Shephelah, or" "maritime plain of Palestine (Josh. 10:3, 5; 12:11). It was taken" and destroyed by the Israelites (Josh. 10:31-33). It afterwards "became, under Rehoboam, one of the strongest fortresses of Judah" (2 Chr. 10:9). It was assaulted and probably taken by "Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:14, 17; 19:8; Isa. 36:2). An account of" this siege is given on some slabs found in the chambers of the "palace of Koyunjik, and now in the British Museum. The" "inscription has been deciphered as follows:, "Sennacherib, the" "mighty king, king of the country of Assyria, sitting on the" throne of judgment before the city of Lachish: I gave permission "for its slaughter." (See [346]NINEVEH.)" "Lachish has been identified with Tell-el-Hesy, where a cuneiform "tablet has been found, containing a letter supposed to be from" Amenophis at Amarna in reply to one of the Amarna tablets sent by Zimrida from Lachish. This letter is from the chief of Atim "(=Etam, 1 Chr. 4:32) to the chief of Lachish, in which the" writer expresses great alarm at the approach of marauders from "the Hebron hills. "They have entered the land," he says, "to lay" "waste...strong is he who has come down. He lays waste." This" "letter shows that "the communication by tablets in cuneiform" "script was not only usual in writing to Egypt, but in the" "internal correspondence of the country. The letter, though not" so important in some ways as the Moabite stone and the Siloam "text, is one of the most valuable discoveries ever made in" "Palestine" (Conder's Tell Amarna Tablets, p. 134)." "Excavations at Lachish are still going on, and among other "discoveries is that of an iron blast-furnace, with slag and" "ashes, which is supposed to have existed B.C. 1500. If the" "theories of experts are correct, the use of the hot-air blast" instead of cold air (an improvement in iron manufacture patented by Neilson in 1828) was known fifteen hundred years before Christ. (See [347]FURNACE.)

Definition of Lachish:
"who walks, or exists, of himself"