Micah 1:13

"Bind the chariot to the swift steed, O inhabitant of Lachish: she was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee."

"She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion ..." It is an interesting question how a border town like Lachish, located some 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem, was "the beginning" of the sin of the southern kingdom. It occurred like this: "Lachish was apparently one of the first cities to permit the Northern Israelite cults to be established in it."[35] The proximity of the town to Jerusalem, its strength and significance as a fortified outpost, the concentration of the horse business and its connection with military power, - all of these things possibly contributed to the mortal infection that was communicated to Jerusalem from Lachish. The attractiveness of Baal-worship for the Israelites was evidently derived from its bold and uninhibited licentiousness. The missionaries of it were the countless sacred prostitutes associated with it.

There is a very interesting thing about Lachish being singled out here as the "beginning" of Jerusalem's sin. Since Micah had already pointed out that Samaria's priority in sin would result in her being doomed first, introducing the principle mentioned under Micah 1:5, Lachish "the beginning" of Zion's sin would also precede Zion in the destruction coming upon her. Jerusalem would fall to Babylon in 586 B.C.; but Lachish and some forty Other towns in that vicinity of the holy city would be destroyed by Sennacherib in 701 B.C. He sent out detachments from his main army to capture and destroy "forty-six walled towns and many villages in Judah, from whom he took 200,150 people, and much spoil."[36] Sennacherib himseft took part in the siege of Lachish; and excavations of his palace reliefs depict him receiving the spoil of Lachish. It was from Lachish that Sennacherib sent the insulting message to Hezekiah, whom Sennacherib referred to as "shut up like a caged bird." Providentially, Jerusalem, at that time was spared; but nevertheless the judgment fell upon the immediate environs. (See 2 Kings 18-19).