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 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 furnace.
   
see also:
nineveh furnace 

lachish, who walks, or exists, of himself