Lehi
Lehi is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Khirbet es Siyyagh. It appears across 4 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Lehi, meaning 'jawbone,' is best known as the site of one of Samson's most dramatic victories. According to Judges 15:9-19, the Philistines encamped at Lehi in Judah's territory, demanding Samson's surrender. After allowing his own countrymen to bind him and deliver him to the Philistines, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, who broke his ropes and struck down a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey (Judges 15:15). He then named the place Ramath-lehi, meaning 'hill of the jawbone.' Afterward, desperately thirsty, Samson cried out to God, who miraculously split open a hollow place at Lehi, and water flowed out, reviving him (Judges 15:18-19). This spring was named En-hakkore ('spring of the caller'). Lehi also appears in 2 Samuel 23:11, where Shammah the son of Agee took his stand in a field of lentils at Lehi and struck down the Philistines in another remarkable display of God-given courage. The site thus witnessed two extraordinary demonstrations of divine power working through unlikely human instruments against the Philistine oppressors.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The precise location of Lehi remains uncertain. The proposed identification with Khirbet es-Siyyagh places it in the Shephelah foothills west of Jerusalem, within the border zone between Judahite and Philistine territory, which fits the narrative context of Samson's conflicts. Other scholars have suggested locations closer to the Wadi es-Sarar (Valley of Sorek) region more closely associated with Samson's activities. The area between the Judean hills and the coastal plain was indeed a contested frontier during the period of the Judges. Archaeological surveys have identified multiple small Iron Age I settlements in the region that could correspond to Lehi. The lack of a preserved ancient name in local Arabic toponyms makes definitive identification difficult.
Verse Appearances (4)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]