This weekend I have been listening to II Kings while out walking. Of course this means that I have also been thinking of Lachish as it is mentioned several times in the narrative.

I have been to Lachish on each of my four trips to Israel, and on two of my trips spent significant time there on an archaeological dig.

In II Kings 14 King Amaziah flees to Lachish, but is captured and put to death. He most likely stayed in the large palace there. Here you see part of the foundation of the palace.

In II Kings 18 during the reign of King Hezekiah we find that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against the fortified cities which included Lachish. In the picture above you can see the remains of the siege ramp that the Assyrians built.

Lachish was taken by the Assyrians and when Sennacherib returned home he had large reliefs made of the capture of the city. Of course, there is no mention of his defeat at Jerusalem immediately after.

Another account in II Kings made me think of Lachish. In II Kings 10 there is an account of how Jehu turned a temple of Baal in Samaria into a latrine after wiping out the followers of Baal.

Two years ago a toilet was found in the gate area of Lachish that dates to the reforms of Hezekiah. For more about this see my post The Lachish Latrine.

One more thing made me think of Lachish this past week. My friend Luke Chandler, who I have gone to Israel with three times, wrote a post about a video that has been released about Lachish.

You can read his post here, New Video on Lachish Excavation, and Watch the full video by clicking on the link.

Now back to watching some Olympic Curling.

Steven