- 44-
- Comp. Guerin, La Judee i. pp. 299, etc.; Badeker, p. 203.
As usually, the ancient city lay on the top of a hill. Among its ruins many cisterns are
found. The country around is undulating, and two great wadys open on either side.
Lachish was, as we know, strongly fortified (2 Chronicles 11:9); it was besieged by
Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:14, 17; Isaiah 36:2); and could offer a stout resistance to
Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 34:7). In short, it was one of the strong fortresses towards
Egypt, although, from the friable nature of the building materials, its ruins, as those of
other similarly-constructed places, are not considerable. In the time of Solomon, Lachish
had been one of the "chariot-cities," for which alike its situation near the Egyptian
emporium of horses (1 Kings 9:19; 10:26-29), and the plentiful pasturage around, would
specially fit it. From the prophecies of Micah (1:13), it appears to have been the first
Judaean city to adopt the idolatrous worship of the northern kingdom, which thence
passed into Jerusalem.
But the strong walls of Lachish could not afford security to Amaziah. The conspirators
from Jerusalem followed the king, and his dead body was brought back to Jerusalem -
perhaps in the very chariot in which he had made his escape.* Yet even this
circumstance, as well as his honorable burial with his royal ancestors, and the elevation to
the throne of his son, "by all the people of Judah," indicate that although the discontent
was not confined to the capital, yet the people generally were wholly averse to any
change of dynasty, such as had characterized every revolution in Israel.**
- 2 Kings 14:20: "And they carried [lit. brought] him upon the horses," with the definite
article, probably to mark the chariot as that in which he had gone.
** Similarly, the murder of Joash, the father of Amaziah, had not been followed, as in
Israel, by the enthronement of one of the conspirators.
(^)