לַיִשׁ
Laish, the name of two places in Palestine
Definition
Laish is the name of two distinct locations in ancient Israel. The primary and most significant Laish was a northern Canaanite city, described as a peaceful and prosperous settlement far from Sidon and without dealings with any other people (Judges 18:7, 27). This city was conquered by the tribe of Dan, who renamed it Dan, making it a major northern cultic center (Judges 18:29). The second Laish is mentioned in Isaiah 10:30 as a town near Jerusalem, likely threatened during the Assyrian advance, showing the name was used for more than one place.
Biblical Usage
The name Laish is used exclusively as a proper noun for place names. It appears six times in the Old Testament, primarily in the narrative of Judges 18, detailing the Danite migration and conquest (Judges 18:7, 14, 27, 29). It appears once in 1 Samuel 25:44 as the hometown of David's wife, Abigail, before he became king, and once in Isaiah 10:30 in a list of towns facing Assyrian invasion. Its usage is strictly geographical, identifying specific settlements.
Etymology
The word לַיִשׁ (layish) is identical to the common noun meaning 'lion' (Strong's H3918). As a place name, it likely means 'Lion,' perhaps describing the character of the original inhabitants, the topography, or serving as a symbolic name for strength. It is compared to the name לִישָׁה (Lyshah) in Joshua 19:47 and לוּשׁ (Luwsh, Strong's H3889), another location.
Semantic Range
The story of Laish (Dan) is theologically significant as it illustrates the spiritual and moral decline of the tribe of Dan during the period of the Judges. Instead of trusting God to provide their allotted inheritance, they migrated north, conquered a peaceful, unsuspecting city, and established an illegitimate priesthood and idolatrous worship center (Judges 18). This act of autonomous conquest and idolatry stands in stark contrast to faithful obedience, foreshadowing the later idolatry that plagued the northern kingdom of Israel.
The description of Laish in Judges 18:7 portrays it as a secure, affluent, and isolated Canaanite city, 'quiet and unsuspecting.' This cultural detail explains why it was an easy target for the Danite raid. Its distance from Sidon and lack of alliances made it vulnerable. Renaming a conquered city (to Dan) was a common ancient Near Eastern practice to assert political and cultural dominance over a new territory.
דָּן (Dan, H1835) — The new name given to the city of Laish after its conquest by the tribe of Dan. לִישָׁה (Lyshah, no Strong's) — A variant spelling or related place name mentioned in Joshua 19:47, possibly the same location.
Word Details
How this works
Hebrew definitions are from Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906) and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890), both public domain. BDB was groundbreaking for its era but reflects 19th-century assumptions about Semitic etymology. Modern scholarship (HALOT, DCH) has revised many entries. Use these definitions as a starting point for exploration, not as the final word on a term's meaning in context.
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