LACHISH

fled for refuge to the Lacedaemonians 'because they were near of kin.' This claim is further set forth in 1 Mac 12™-; cf. 14"- '"■ 15''^, where we read of Sparta and an alliance with the Spartans. It was, of course, entirely fanciful, the Hellenes and the Jews belonging respectively to the Indo-European and Semitic branches of the human race. A. E. Hillaed.

LACHISH. — A town in the south country of Judah referred to several times in the TeU el-Amarna tablets. In the Biblical records it first appears as joining the coahtion headed by the king of Jerusalem against the Gibeonites (Jos 10'), and as being in consequence reduced by Joshua (v.'') in spite of the assistance given to it by the king of Gezer (v.'^). It is enumer-ated among the cities of the tribe of Judah (15"'). Rehoboam fortified it (2 Oh 11'). Hither Amaziah, king of Judah, fled from conspirators, and here he was murdered (2 K 14"). In the reign of Hezekiah, Sennach-erib took Lachish, and while he was quartered there Hezekiah sent messengers to him to make terms (18"-"). Sennacherib's Lachish campaign is commemorated by a sculpture from Nineveh, now in the British Museum. Lachish and Azekah were the last cities to stand against the king of Babylon (Jer 347). Lachish was one of the towns settled by the children of Judah after the Exile (Neh 113"). Micah's denunciation of Lachish as 'the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion' (1") doubtless refers to incidents of which we are quite ignorant.

Lachish was identified by Conder with Tell el-Hesy, an important mound in the Gaza district, which was partially excavated with success by Flinders Petrie and Bliss for the Palestine Exploration Fund (1890-1893). Another site in the neighbourhood, of Roman date, called Vmm Lakis, probably represents a later dwelling of the representatives of the ancient Lachishites, and preserves the name of the city. R. A. S. Macalister.

LADAN. — 1. A name occurring in the genealogy of Joshua (1 Ch 7™). 2. A Gershonite family name (1 Ch 23'- 8. 9 26"««^). In 6" it appears as Libni (wh. see).

lADANUM.— See Mybrh.

LADDER. — In ancient times ladders were used chiefly for scahng the walls of a besieged city, as frequently shown on the Egyptian and Assyrian monuments (Wilkinson, Anc. Egyp. i. 243; Layard, Nineveh, ii. 372). Although this use of them is probably implied in Pr 21^^, scaling-ladders are first expressly mentioned in the time of the Maccabees (1 Mac 5"). See Foetification, §§ 3, 6.

Jacob's ' ladder ' (Gn 28'^) seems to have been rather a 'fUght of stone steps, rising up to heaven' (Driver, Com. in loc). A. R. S. Kennedy.

LAEL.— A Gershonite Levite (Nu 3").

LAHAD.— A Judahite family name (1 Ch 4^).

LAHAI-BOI. — See Beer-lahai-eoi.

LAHMAKl (EVm Lahmas) . — A town of Judah (Jos 15"), possibly mod. eULahm, near Beit Jibrin.

LAHDII. — The brother of GoUath the Gittite, slain by Elhanan the son of Jair (1 Ch 20*). There is a discrepancy between this passage and the parallel passage in 2 S 21", where we read that ' Elhanan [wh. see] the Bethlehemite slew Goliath the Gittite.' If the text of Chronicles "is the more correct, the designation Bethle-hemite of Samuel is simply a corruption of the name Lahmi, but the converse might also be the case.

T. A. MoxoN.

LAISH. — 1. The original name of the town of Dan (,Ig 18'- "■ "• 29). The variation Leshem occurs in Jos 19'1'Ws. 2. The father of Palti or Paltiel, to whom Michael, David's wife, was given by Saul (IS 25", 2 S 3").

LAISHAH (Is 10'»).— The name of a place connected vrith Gallim, and mentioned here along with other localities in Benjamin and Judah. It Gallim be Beit

LAMECH

Jala near Bethlehem, Laishah would also be In that neighbourhood.

LAKKUM.— An unknown town of Naphtali (Jos ig"). .

LABIA. — See Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani.

LAMB. — See Sheep, and next article.

LAMB OF GOD. — The lamb was the most common victim in the Jewish sacrifices, and the most familiar type to a Jew of an offering to God. The title ' the lamb of God' (i.e. the lamb given or provided by God; cf. Gn 22») is applied by John the Baptist to Jesus in Jn 1^9- ". The symboUsm which the Baptist intended can be inferred from the symbolic allusions to the lamb in the OT. Thus in Jer 11" the prophet compares himself to a lamb, as the type of guilelessness and innocence. Again, in Is 53' (a passage which exercised great influence on the Messianic hope of the Jews, and is definitely referred to Christ in Ac 8'^) the lamb is used as the type of vicarious suffering. It seems beyond doubt that these two ideas must have been in the Baptist's mind. It is also quite possible to see in the phrase a reference to the lamb which formed part of the daily sacrifice in the Temple; and also, perhaps, an aUusion to the Paschal lamb which would soon be offered at the approaching Passover (Jn 2"), and which was the symbol of God's deliverance. Certainly this is the idea underlying the expressions in Jn 19M and 1 P 1". Thus all these strata of thought may be traced in the Baptist's title, viz. innocence, vicarious suffering, sacrifice, redemption.

The lamb is used 27 times in the Apocalypse as the symbol of Christ, and on the first introduction of the term in Rev 5» the writer speaks specifically of ' a lamb as though it had been slain.' The term used in the Greek original is not the same as that found in the Baptist's phrase, but the connexion is probably similar. It seems most likely that the sacrificial and redemptive significance of the Iamb is that especially intended by the Apocalyptic author.

The specific title 'the lamb of God' may be an in-vention of the Baptist's own, which he used to point an aspect of the Messianic mission for his hearers' benefit, or it may have been a well-known phrase currently employed to designate the Messiah; we have no trace of such an earlier use, but it may have existed (see Westcott on Jn 1«). A. W. F. Blunt.

LAME, LAMENESS. — See Medicine, p. 59g>>.

LAMECH. — The name apparently of two people in the antediluvian period, the one belonging to the Cainite and the other to the Sethlte genealogy. 1. The fifth descendant from Cain (Gn 418-M). He seems to have been a man of importance in the early legend, as the names of his two wives (Adah and Zillah), his three sons (Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-cain), and his daughter (Naamah) are all mentioned. Special interest is attached to him on account of his song — ' Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: For I have slain a man for wounding me, And a young man for bruising me: If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold. Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.'

The meaning of this song has been the subject of much conjecture. The song is clearly one of exultation, and it has not unnaturally been associated with the fact that Tubal-cain his son is specially mentioned as the 'forger of every cutting instrument.' Jerome relates the Jewish legend that Lamech accidentally slew Cain, but for this, of course, there is no foundation. It has been suggested (Lightfoot, Decas Chorogr- Marc, praem. § iv.) that the reference is to the fact that Lamech, as the first polygamist, introduced greater destruction into the world than Cain. R. H. Kennett sees in the song a deprecation of blood-guiltiness incurred by the fact that Lamech, as a tribal chieftain, has avenged an insult of a boy by slaying him.

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