Lachish Letters

In 1935 the British archaeologist J. L. Starkey found 18 ostraca — pieces of broken pottery used for writing — in a guardroom by the city gate of Lachish, southwest of Jerusalem. They lay in a layer of ash from the fire in which the Babylonians burned the city, and three more were found in 1938. They were written in black ink with a reed or wooden pen, in the Hebrew script of the time. Only about seven read as connected text. Most were sent by an officer named Hoshaiah from an outpost to Ya’osh, his commander at Lachish.

Letter 4 says: “We are watching for the fire signals of Lachish … for we cannot see Azekah.” Jeremiah names Lachish and Azekah as the last fortified cities left in Judah (Jeremiah 34:7). By one view Azekah had just fallen; by another its signals simply could not be seen that day. Letter 6 complains that the words of the officials “weaken the hands” of the people — the Hebrew phrase the officials use of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 38:4). Letter 3 mentions a commander going down to Egypt and a warning from a prophet; who that prophet was is not known.