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Ancient Lachish Sketch
Sketch is of the Siege
of Lachish by the Assyrians (Click
to Enlarge)
In ancient times Lachish was
an important city in Judah, second only to Jerusalem.
The Bible mentions Lachish often:
2 Kings
18:14 - And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of
Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return
from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of
Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents
of silver and thirty talents of gold.
2
Chronicles 32:9 - After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria
send his servants to Jerusalem, (but he [himself laid siege] against
Lachish, and all his power with him,) unto Hezekiah
king of Judah, and unto all Judah that [were] at Jerusalem, saying,
Jeremiah
34:7 - When the king of Babylon's army fought against
Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left,
against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these
defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.
Joshua
10:23 - And they did so, and brought forth those five kings
unto him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron,
the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, [and] the
king of Eglon.
2 Kings
18:17 - And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and
Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great
host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And
when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the
upper pool, which [is] in the highway of the fuller's field.
Joshua 10:5
- Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem,
the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish,
the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they
and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war
against it.
Joshua 10:3
- Wherefore Adonizedek king of Jerusalem sent unto Hoham king of
Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of
Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying,
Joshua
12:11 - The king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish,
one;
Nehemiah
11:30 - Zanoah, Adullam, and [in] their villages, at
Lachish, and the fields thereof, at Azekah, and [in] the
villages thereof. And they dwelt from Beersheba unto the valley of
Hinnom.
Isaiah 36:2
- And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish
to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by
the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.
Micah 1:13
- O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to
the swift beast: she [is] the beginning of the sin to the daughter
of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.
Joshua
10:32 - And the LORD delivered Lachish into
the hand of Israel, which took it on the second day, and smote it
with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that [were] therein,
according to all that he had done to Libnah.
2 Kings
19:8 - So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria
warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from
Lachish.
Isaiah 37:8
- So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring
against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from
Lachish.
Joshua
10:33 - Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help
Lachish; and Joshua smote him and his people, until he had
left him none remaining.
Joshua
10:31 - And Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with
him, unto Lachish, and encamped against it, and fought
against it:
Joshua
10:34 - And from Lachish Joshua passed unto
Eglon, and all Israel with him; and they encamped against it, and
fought against it:
Joshua
10:35 - And they took it on that day, and smote it with the
edge of the sword, and all the souls that [were] therein he utterly
destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to
Lachish.
Joshua
15:39 - Lachish, and Bozkath, and Eglon,
2
Chronicles 11:9 - And Adoraim, and Lachish,
and Azekah,
2 Kings
14:19 - Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem:
and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to
Lachish, and slew him there.
2
Chronicles 25:27 - Now after the time that Amaziah did turn
away from following the LORD they made a conspiracy against him in
Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent to
Lachish after him, and slew him there.
| Heart
Message
Ancient Warfare
War Inside and Out
Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you.
For many will come in
my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ, and will deceive many. You will
hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not
alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There
will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the
beginning of birth pains. Matt 24:4-8
Anyone who looks into human history can't help but see an entire world shaped
by war, where practically every nation's boundaries are established as a result
of one army killing another. Why is war such a part of the human fabric?
The Scriptures indicate that war is a symptom of a deep spiritual problem.
War is the result of man's fallen and evil heart. Not someone else's evil
heart. Not the evil hearts of only a greedy oligarchy, or a bloodthirsty
aggressor, but our evil heart. All of us. "There is none righteous, no
not one." Romans 3:10
After exercising his free will and choosing to rebel against his Creator, man
became disconnected from God and His free flowing intimacy. (Genesis 3)
Man had to cope with an emptiness that needed filling, guilt that made him
angry, shame that made him hide, and fear that made him greedy and
controlling... to name a few results.
We are all born from this nature and perhaps if we are honest we can see the
war within us at work. How do we respond when cut-off on a highway?
How do we respond to an unjust provocation? What was your reaction when
you didn't get your way and your spouse, or co-worker did? The true
test doesn't manifest when we're comfortable, but rather when we're cornered and
provoked. Add to this the Satanic realm where fallen angels manipulate,
motivate and drive scenarios, and we should probably be amazed that there hasn't
been more war!
God had a plan to solve our 'heart' problem and human history is His Story of
redemption where our sin was paid by Someone else in order to legally and
righteously connect us back to His intimacy. This is the Gospel
story, the good news! Yes, unbelievably, that God vicariously absorbed the
condemnation and punishment due to us Himself - through the Person of His Son.
Listen to Isaiah writing about Messiah some 700 years before He came.
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was
crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. - Isaiah 53:4-6
Once we have peace with God, and are filled with His Spirit, it's easier,
though not guaranteed, to pursue peace with others. Sanctification is still a
process and we must lay down our battles one argument at a time by turning the
other cheek and going the extra mile, though soldiers or Centurions were never
commanded to leave their defense of the nation.
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace
with everyone. - Romans 12:18
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the
desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is
contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the
sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do
not do what you want...
Gal. 5:16-18
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come
from your desires that battle within you? You want something but
don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want.
You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong
motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
James 4:1-3
.For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against
the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark
world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day
of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you
have done everything, to stand. Eph. 6:12,13
We are promised grace as we struggle with these issues and forgiveness when
we fail. We are told nation will continue to rise against nation (Matt.
24:7) until the Day of the Lord when Jerusalem will mourn over the One they
have pierced, (Zech 13:10) and He who is called Faithful and True returns
to wage the final war and finally rule in peace. Rev. 19:11
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