And may (my lord) be apprised that we are watching for the fire signals of Lachish according to all the signs which my lord has given, because we cannot see Azekah.
Lachish Letter 4
Saturday was another field study, but for another class than Physical Settings. We visited Lachish and Mareshah, two cities in the Shephelah.
Lachish was probably the second most important city in the kingdom of Judah, having large fortifications. The Assyrians (c. 701 BC) and Babylonians (c. 587 BC) both besieged here and destroyed the city. There were ostraca (potsherds with writing on them) found here which tell of not being able to see the signal fire from Azekah. We discussed the possible meanings of this. Were they testing signal fires before a siege? Or was this during the war and Azekah had fallen? From the top of Lachish we looked to the horizon in all directions, determining what we could see. Azekah is blocked by too many hills to be visible to the north.
Our other stop was Mareshah, just a few miles to the north/northeast of Lachish. Some postulate that this was an outpost for Lachish. Could a signal fire of Azekah been visible here, which could be passed on to Lachish? Azekah still seemed buried behind the hills. We had free time to explore here. Mareshah is filled with many caves, which were used in a variety of ways, as you can see.
Finishing the theme of signal fires, we built our own Sunday evening at JUC. OK, it was actually a campfire, but it was nice sitting around it roasting marshmallows, basking in the warmth of the fire, fending off the chill of the evening.
