of Israel have been found.” These words constitute part of a picture of defeat and appear to suggest that Lachish prepare for flight. The “sin” of Lachish is not discussed elsewhere in Scripture. Perhaps a form of idolatry introduced in Jerusalem originated at Lachish. Or, the sin possibly involved Judah’s reliance on horses and chariots, which may have been received at Lachish from Egypt.

LADAN

(Laʹdan) [perhaps, fleshy at the throat].

1. An Ephraimite ancestor of Joshua.—1 Chron. 7:22, 26, 27.

2. A Gershonite Levite from whom several paternal houses originated. (1 Chron. 23:7-9; 26:21) He evidently was also called Libni.—Ex. 6:17.

LADDER

The only Biblical reference to a ladder is at Genesis 28:12, where the Hebrew term sul·lamʹ applies to a ladder Jacob beheld in a dream. The patriarch saw a ladder (or perhaps what looked like a rising flight of stones) stationed upon the earth, with its top reaching up to the heavens. God’s angels were ascending and descending on the ladder and a representation of Jehovah God was above it. (Gen. 28:13) This ladder with the angels upon it indicates the existence of communication between earth and heaven and that angels minister in an important way between God and those having his approval.

When Jesus said to his disciples, “Most truly I say to you men, You will see heaven opened up and the angels of God ascending and descending to the Son of man,” he may have had in mind Jacob’s vision.—John 1:51.

Scaling ladders were part of siege equipment used during warfare and are frequently depicted on Egyptian and Assyrian monuments. A relief from Nineveh shows the Assyrians employing siege ladders when assaulting Lachish.

Ladders served other purposes in ancient times, as in the building trades. For instance, they are shown on the Ur-Nammu stele depicting the construction of a ziggurat. Also, in an Assyrian relief from Tell Halaf, considered to be of the ninth century B.C.E., a man is shown climbing a date-palm tree by means of a ladder.

LADY

See QUEEN.

LAEL

(Laʹel) [belonging to God].

A Levite and the father of Eliasaph, the chieftain of the paternal house for the Gershonites during Israel’s trek in the wilderness.—Num. 3:24.

LAHAD

(Laʹhad) [perhaps, slow, indolent].

A descendant of Judah and the second named of Jahath’s two sons.—1 Chron. 4:1, 2.

LAHMAM

(Lahʹmam).

A Judean city in the Shephelah. (Josh. 15:20, 33, 40) It is usually identified with Khirbet el-Lahm, about three miles (5 kilometers) NE of Lachish.

LAHMI

(Lahʹmi) [my bread].

The brother of Goliath the Gittite. The account at 1 Chronicles 20:5 reads, in part: “Elhanan the son of Jair got to strike down Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite,” during a war with the Philistines. However, in a parallel text at 2 Samuel 21:19 the reading is: “El-hanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite got to strike down Goliath the Gittite.” In the latter text it appears that ʼeth-lahh·miʹ (in English, “Lahmi,” the Hebrew term ʼeth merely denoting that Lahmi is the object of a verb) was misread by a copyist to be behth hal·lahh·miʹ (“Bethlehemite”). Therefore the original probably read: “got to strike down Lahmi,” just as the parallel text at 1 Chronicles 20:5 reads. This would make the two texts harmonize on this point. Lahmi, then, was evidently the brother of the Goliath that David killed. On the other hand, it is possible that there were two Goliaths.—See GOLIATH.

LAISH

(Laʹish) [lion].

1. A man from Gallim, the father of Palti (or Paltiel), to whom Saul gave as a wife his daughter Michal, previously the wife of David.—1 Sam. 25:44; 2 Sam. 3:15.

2. A northern Canaanite city destroyed by the Danites, who thereafter rebuilt it and gave it the name of Dan (Judg. 18:27-29); also called Leshem. (Josh. 19:47) It is mentioned in Egyptian texts of the nineteenth century B.C.E. under the name of Lus(i).—See DAN No. 3.

LAISHAH

(Laʹi·shah) [lion].

A town in the territory of Benjamin identified by F.-M. Abel (Géographie de la Palestine, Vol. II, p. 368) with modern el-ʽIsawiyeh, about one mile (1.6 kilometers) NE of Jerusalem. Isaiah’s prophetic foreview of the rampaging Assyrian, as he advances village by village, calls on Laishah to “pay attention” to the coming attack.—Isa. 10:30.

LAKE OF FIRE

This expression occurs only in the book of Revelation and is clearly symbolic. The Bible gives its own explanation and definition of the symbol by stating: “This means the second death, the lake of fire.”—Rev. 20:14; 21:8.

Since the lake of fire represents the “second death” and since Revelation 20:14 says that both “death and Hades” are to be cast into it, it is evident that the lake cannot represent the death man has inherited from Adam (Rom. 5:12) nor does it refer to Hades (or Sheol), since Hades, along with death, is to be destroyed in the lake of fire. It must, therefore, represent a destruction that is eternal and which will always be available to receive any who at any future time should merit destruction by God. It is, therefore, symbolic of a death without reversal, for the record nowhere speaks of the lake as giving up those in it, as do Adamic death and Hades (Sheol). (Rev. 20:13) Thus, those not found written in “the book of life” are hurled into the lake of fire or second death, as are Satan and the symbolic “wild beast” and “false prophet.”—Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 15.

While the foregoing texts and all the surrounding language in the book of Revelation make evident the symbolic quality of the lake of fire, it has been used by some to represent a literal place of fire, and Revelation 20:10 has been appealed to as substantiating evidence, in that it speaks of the Devil, the wild beast and the false prophet as being “tormented day and night forever and ever.” The word “tormented” here translates the Greek word ba·sa·niʹzo. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (1964, edited by G. Kittel, Vol. 1, pp. 561-563) states that its infinitive form “means strictly ‘to test by the proving stone’ (βάσαυος [baʹsa·nos]), i.e., ‘to rub against it,’ ‘to test the genuineness of,’ ‘to examine or try,’ then ‘to apply means of torture to find the truth,’ ‘to harry or torture’ in a hearing or before a tribunal. In the N[ew] T[estament] it is found only in the general sense of ‘to plague’ or ‘to torment.’” As evidence, texts such as Matthew 8:6, 29; Mark 5:7; Luke 8:28; 2 Peter 2:8 and Revelation 12:2 are cited. Similar points are made regarding the related words ba·sa·nis·mosʹ (Rev. 9:5; 18:7) and ba·sa·ni·stesʹ. (Matt. 18:34) Of ba·sa·ni·stesʹ the above-mentioned work states that it “does not occur in the N[ew] T[estament] in the original sense of a ‘tester’ but it is found once in Mt. 18:34 in the sense of a ‘tormentor.’” Since a jail was often a place of torment, the jailer was at times called the “tormentor” (ba·sa·ni·stesʹ) as at Matthew 18:34. Those cast into the “lake of fire” go into “second death” from which there is no resurrection, hence are ‘jailed’ or restrained in death and as though in the custody of jailers, “tormentors,” as it were, throughout eternity. That a condition of restraint can be spoken of as torment is seen by the parallel accounts at Matthew 8:29 and Luke 8:31.—See GEHENNA.