At the time of King Hezekiah, Lachish was the second-most important fortress in the kingdom of Judah after its capital Jerusalem. Lachish is one of the most interesting historic sites in Israel in that archeology, the Bible, and Assyrian propaganda can be brought together to relate a dramatic story. It is also possible to amplify and compare the biblical account of Hezekiah’s rebellion against the Assyrians by means of these Assyrian reliefs and texts.
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Close the bank of the Lachish Stream, Lachish occupies a highly important strategic position in the Shefelah, in that it overlooks the junction of the Via Maris between Egypt and Mesopotamia and a road to Hebron and the southern Judean Highlands. As the strongest fortified fortress in the Shefela, it occupied a critical position in the defense of Jerusalem.
Lachish is well-known because of its siege and capture by Sennacherib in 701 BCE after King Hezekiah attempted to break away from the sovereignty of the Assyrians. King Hezekiah was the 13th king of the Kingdom of Judah and reigned between approximately 715 to 686 BCE. To capture the city, Sennacherib built a stone and dirt ramp up to the level of the southern wall.
Sennacherib’s palace in Nineveh was discovered in 1845, and among the discoveries was a room with illustrations of this siege on alabaster slabs. A picture of these reliefs is shown on a sign by the Visitor Center. The original alabaster slabs are in the British Museum. These reliefs show the siege ramp, Judean prisoners and their deportation, and the city’s destruction.
Lachish reached its peak as a Canaanite city in the Middle Bronze age (between 2,000 to 1550 BCE). It was destroyed twice by fire in the mid-12th century BCE and after this was only sparsely populated; many assume that this was by the Israelites.
The city is mentioned in the book of Joshua as being part of a confederation of southern Canaanite cities that were defeated by the Israelites in the Valley of Ayalon. Its territory was assigned to the tribe of Judah, and during the beginning of the period of the monarchy it was part of the United Kingdom. When the tribes split apart, Lachish remained part of the southern kingdom of Judah. At that time, King Rehoboam, the first king of southern Judah, increased the fortifications of Lachish with massive walls and ramparts, as well as other cities in Judah (II Chronicles 11:9-12). At some time, a royal palace was built on a platform in the center of the city on Canaanite foundations.
According to the prophet Jeremiah, Lachish and Azeika were the last two fortified cities to fall to the Babylonians in 587 BCE before the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of its inhabitants to Babylon. Lachish was resettled by the Jews on their return from the Babylonian exile, but was finally abandoned after the conquest of Israel by Alexander the Great.
There is not a lot to see on top of the tel, in that there are no reconstructions other than the main gate and most of ancient Lachish was either destroyed or is buried. However, there are many explanations and pictorial reconstructions on the tel that make up for this.
Time: Allow about 1½ hours to go around the periphery of the tel.
Admission: Tel Lachish National Park is maintained by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Hours are 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and Saturday in the summer and 8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. in the winter. The park closes one hour earlier on Friday and holiday eves. There is an admission charge. There is a Visitor Center which shows a 15-minute movie about the Assyrian attack at the time of Hezekiah. This can be viewed in English with Hebrew subtitles. There are restrooms in the Visitor Center. There are a few picnic benches outside the Visitor Center. This is their English website
Directions: Enter “Tel Lachish” into Waze.
Public transport: There is an infrequent bus to the tel. The closest bus stop is a 900-meter, 11-minute walk to the tel.
Tne ramp into the main Judean gate
Foundations of a palace used by the Judean governor of Lachish.
The ramp made by the Assyrians against the southern wall
Visiting the site
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After viewing the movie in the Visitor Center, go up to the tel via the modern wooden walkway to the Entrance Gate of the fortress. On your way, note the dirt and stone ramp against the southern wall. This was constructed by the Assyrians as part of their successful siege of the city.
The gateway is from the time of the kings of Judah and consisted of an outer gatehouse and inner gatehouse between which was a broad, paved plaza. The outer gatehouse was fortified with three massive towers. Important city functions would have taken place within the courtyard such as commerce, law courts and other assemblies. The only access to the city was through this one gate and it would have been closed at night.
The Israelite city was heavily fortified with a 6-meter-wide wall, beneath which was a steep artificial slope built of stones and bricks (called a glacis) to prevent an enemy from scaling the walls. There was also another wall at the middle of the slope and a moat at the base of the city wall.
Much of the inner gate is a reconstruction. It had six chambers, with the three chambers on each side being built during the reign of King Hezekiah.
In the city gate area was found 20 inscribed pottery shards with correspondence during the Babylonian conquest from a military officer to his superior describing, in effect, the last days of the Judean kingdom. Most dramatic is a letter that says: “We are watching for the signals of Lachish… according to all the signs that my lord has given, for we cannot see Azekah.” It should not have taken long for him to realize that Lachish was next.
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Once past the gate, you are on the city’s main street. On your right is a small room with a few steps leading up to it. The remains of two altars were found in this room. The altars were destroyed during the time of King Hezekiah’s reforms. The room was then turned into a latrine, probably to make a point, and you can see this.
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Make your way to the fork where there is a bench for resting. Go to your left to the palace. This was a large structure built around the time of King Hezekiah on the highest point of the tel and on the ruins of a previous Canaanite structure. Only the foundations are now apparent. It would have been surrounded by a wall and gate house. In its center was a building for the governor of the city. It had a large courtyard, and rooms around the periphery such as residences, storerooms and stables. The storerooms were underneath.
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For a walk that encompasses the periphery of the tel, walk across the courtyard to the other side of the palace and climb down the steps. There is another path here marked by arrows that takes you around the tel. The path will lead you past a section of the city wall to a well from the Middle Canaanite period. It was dug to a depth of 44 meters to reach the water table and would have been adequate to supply the Canaanite city. No equivalent Israelite structure is known.
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Otherwise return to the fork and take this path to the southern wall. It is against this wall that a rampart was erected by the Assyrians. In response, the Judahites built up the ground close to the wall and covering the houses as a counter-ramp and additional line of fortification. It did not help and the wall was breached by the formidable Assyrian war machine.
What did the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah say about breaking loose from the Assyrian and Babylonian empires?
One of the signs on the tel asks the question - Why did King Hezekiah rebel against the Assyrians? But its answer - to break free from Assyrian domination with the help of Egypt and Philistine city-states is hardly an answer. The more penetrating questions are: how did Hezekiah think he could get away with it, and why did he ignore the prophet Isaiah’s advice?
Assyria at that time was the dominant empire in the Middle East and in its heyday stretched from Mesopotamia to Egypt. All countries and city-states in between were subservient to it. Its military was technologically very advanced. One of the ways it dealt with the people it conquered was to transfer them to other territories so as to prevent further revolt. In this way millions of people were moved from their homelands.
Hezekiah had an excellent relationship with the prophet Isaiah at the beginning of Hezekiah’s rule, to the extent that Isaiah wrote about him in his book in messianic terms. Hezekiah had taken over the Kingdom of Judah on the death of his father Ahaz. Ahaz had brought pagan practices into his kingdom, including into the Temple itself, and Hezekiah reversed this. He destroyed the high places (bamot) and idol worship throughout the country and reinstituted monotheism into the Holy Temple, although the extent to which the people followed through in their homes is unclear.
The prophet Isaiah had a passivist approach with respect to his foreign policy advice. He did not advocate rebellion, and was against Judah putting its faith in anyone other than God. He opposed the country going to Egypt to acquire more horses for their chariots (as per the Biblical law), the construction of a tunnel to divert water to inside the city, and the strengthening of the city wall. From his visions he knew that the Assyrians had the potential to destroy the state. However, Hezekiah disregarded this advice and made an alliance with the Egyptians and Philistine city states against the Assyrians.
Is it possible that Hezekiah feel that his zealotry for God was sufficient to ensure the success of his revolt? He may also have felt that with his alliance with Egypt he was strong enough to defeat the Assyrians. This was a disastrous mistake. The Egyptians were defeated and unable to come to his aid. The Assyrian ruler Sennacherib devastated the Shefelah, including its main fortress of Lachish, and was now ready to besiege Jerusalem. Many in Jerusalem were ready to surrender.
At this stage, Hezekiah was desperate and made contact again with Isaiah. Isaiah prophesied that the Assyrians would not capture the city, many of the invading army would die, and that Sennacherib would be murdered. This is exactly what happened. Nevertheless, although Jerusalem was not conquered, Hezekiah’s kingdom was decimated and Hezekiah remained a vassal to the Assyrians.
Assyrian texts do not mention why the Assyrian army was destroyed and fled from Jerusalem. From this time on, though, there was a decline in the power of the Assyrian empire and Babylon began its slow ascent to rule the Middle East.
Similarly, the prophet Jeremiah was very much opposed to King Zedekiah resisting the Babylonian Empire. He felt that the Babylonians were agents of God and judgement was now unavoidable for Judea. His passivist approach was considered demoralizing and even traitorous, and he was imprisoned and almost killed by the government for opposing King Zedekiah’s revolt against the Babylonians and prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem. Many felt, including other prophets, that the very presence of the Temple was enough to ensure that Jerusalem would not be destroyed.
In conclusion, both prophets were saying that God would not support bold military action, particularly if they put their trust in a foreign power such as Egypt. History proved them right. Only when the Temple was destroyed was Jeremiah recognized as a true prophet of God.
The Canaanite well.
The kings of Judah represented by chairs. The heightt of each chair represents how long they reigned.
Picture of the fortified gate to the city
This cultic area at the entrance to the city was converted into a latrine, presumably by Hezekiah.