O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast: she [is] the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.
Ver. 13. O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast] To the camel or dromedary, saith Calvin, which is a very swift beast (we call a slow body dromedary, per antiphrasin), or to the post horses Aniariis, as Junius; he means, Make haste away. Salmaneser is already at Samaria, and Sennacherib will be ere long at Lachish, Isaiah 36:2. Hannibal ad portas, Hannbal at the gates, begone with all possible speed; haste, haste, haste.
She is the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion] Not partner only, but author and ringleader. Such are all leaders of heresy and inventors of evil things, Romans 1:30. These shall drink deep of God's wrath here, and be cast alive into the burning lake, Revelation 19:20. Some apply the words to the confederacy of Lachish with Jerusalem against King Amaziah, 2 Kings 14:19, slain at this city.
For the transgressions of Israel were found in thee] The often change of person in this verse is remarkable. The chief sin that Lachish stands charged with is that, being near to Beersheba, she had learned her manner, Amos 8:14, that is, her rites and religions, instituted by Jeroboam, and transmitted them to Jerusalem. Superstition soon spreads, and is catching; like the Jerusalem artichoke, it quickly overruns the ground, and chokes the heart.