Laing, James, a Presbyterian minister, was born in Berry Holes of Plain, Perth County, Scotland, in 1785, and was educated at the University of Glasgow, where he graduated with distinction in 1816. After teaching for some time, he determined to devote himself to the ministry, and in 1825 was licensed by the Glasgow Relief Presbyterj-. May 8, 1830, he emigrated to the United States; was ordained by Washington Classis in 1832, and was installed pastor of the Church in Argyle, N. Y. In 183-1 he removed to Andes, where he died Nov. 15, 1858. •' Mr. Laing was a man to be esteemed, loved, and trusted — a laborious pastor and ' Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile.' " — Wilson, Fresh. Histoi-ical Almanac, 1867, p. 359.
La'ish (Heb. La'yish, d^b Judg. xviii, 14, 27, 29 ; 1 Sam. XXV, 44, a lion, as in Isa. xxx, 6, etc., in pause d^b^ text 'CJlb, 2 Sam. iii, 15, with n local fT^?^ ; Judg. xviii, 7 ; Isa. X, 30 ; Sept. AdiQ in Sam., Aaitju in Judg., An- laa in Isa. ; Yulg. Lais, but Laisa in Isa.), the nanae of at least one place and perhaps also of a man.
1. A city in the extreme northern border of Pales- tine (Judglxviii,7, 14, 27,29), also called Lesheji (Josh. xix, 47), and subsequently, after being occupied by a colony of Danites (Josh, xix, 47; Judg. xviii, 27 sq.), also Dax (Judg. xviii, 29; Jer. viii, 16), a name some- times given to it in anticipation (Gen. xiv, 14 ; Deut. xxxiv, 1; comp. Jahn,£'i«?«V. II,i,66; Hug, in the /"ret - burr/. Zeitschr. v, 137 sq.). It lay in a fruitful district, near the sources of the upper Jordan (Josephus, A ni. viii, 8, 4), four miles from Paneas towards Tyre (Eusebius, Onomasf.). Saadias and the Samaritan version falsely give, instead of Dan (in Gen. xiv, 14), "Paneas" (see Winer, Diss, de vers. Sam. p. 54), which also Jerome (at Ezek. xxvii, 15, and Amos viii, 14) gives as an equiva- lent. Laish was long the seat of a corrupt >vorship of Jehovah (Judg. xviii, 14 sq.), and as it fell within the kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam established there the idola- try of the golden calf (1 Kings xii, 28 sq.).— Winer, ii,4. The occupation of this place by the Sidonians is easily accounted for. Sidon was a commercial city. Situated on the coast, with only a narrow strip of plain beside it, and the bare and rocky side of Lebanon impending over it, a large and constant supjily of food had to be brought from a distance. The plain around Laish is one of the richest in Syria, and tlie enterprising Phoenicians took possession of it, built a town, and ])laced in it a large colonj' of laborers, expecting to draw from it an unfail- ing supply of corn and fruit. Josephus calls this plain '' the great plain of the city of Sidon" (.1 nl. v, 3, 1). A road was made across the mountains to it at an immense cost, and still forms one of thejnain roads from the sea- coast to the interior. Strong\astles were built to pro- tect the road and the colony. Kulat esh-Shukif, one of the strongest fortresses in Syria, stands on a com- manding hill over the place \vhcre the ancient road crosses the river Leoutes. and it is manifestly of Phoeni-
cian origin. So also the great castles of Banias, four miles east of Laish, and Ilunhi. about six miles Mcst of it, Avere founded by the I'hoenicians, as is evident from the character of their architecture (Porter, Handhouk; p. 444, 447 ; Robinson, Researches, iii, 50, 52, 371, 403). It is most interesting to discover, after the lapse of more tlian three thousand years, distinct traces of the wealth and enterprise of the Phoenicians around the site and fertile plain of Laish. — Kitto, s. v. See Dan.
2. A place mentioned in Isa. x, 30, where the proph- et, in describing tlie advance of the Assyrian host upon Jerusalem, enumerates Laish with a number of other towns on the north of the city. It is not quite certain whether the writer is here relating a real event, or de- tailing a prophetic vision, or giving a solemn warning under a striking allegory ; but, however this may be, the description is singularly graphic, and the line of march is pointed out with remarkable minuteness and precis- ion. Aiath,Migron, and Michmash are passed; the deep ravine which separates the latter from Geba is then crossed ; Ramah sees and is afraid — '• Gibcah of Saul is tied." The writer now, with great dramatic effect, changes his mode of description. To terror and flight he appends an exclamation of alarm, representing one place as crj^ing, another as listening, and a third as re- sponding — " Lift up thy voice, daughter of Gallim ! Hearken, Laishah ! Alas, poor Anathoth !" The words niij^b "2^'ll'pin are rendered in the A. Y., '-Cause it (thy voice) to be heard unto Laish" — that is, apparent- ly, to the northern border-city of Palestine ; following the version of Junius and TremeUius, and the comment of Grotius, because tlie last syllable of the name which appears here as Laishah is taken to be the Hebrew par- ticle of motion, "to Laish" (agreeably to the Hebrew accent), as is undoubtedly the case in Judg. xviii, 7. But such a rendering is foimd neither in any of the an- cient versions, nor in those of modern scholars, as Gese- nius, Ewald, Zimz, etc. ; nor is the Hebrew word here rendered " cause it to be heard" foimd elsewhere in that voice, but always absolute — " hearken" or " attend." There is a certain violence in the sudden introduction amongst these little Benjamite villages of the frontier town so very far remote, and not less in the use of its ancient name, elsewhere so constantly superseded by Dan (see Jer. viii, 16). Laishah was doubtless a small town on the line of march near Anathoth (see Lowth, Umbreit, Alexander, Gesenius, ad loc). — Kitto; Smith. INIany, therefore, understanding a different place from Dan (Kosenmiiller, A Iterth. Ill, ii, 191 ; Hitzig and Kno- hQ\, Comment, ad loc), regard it as the Laisa (E\taai(, Cod. Alex. 'AX«(7«) mentioned in 1 Mace, ix, 5; but Re- land has shown that the city of Judah there referred to is Adasa, and the form of the word in Isa. does not war- rant this interpretation (see Gesenius, Comment, ad loc). This Adasa has been discovered by Eli Smith in the modern ruined village Adasa, immediately north of Je- rusalem (Robinson, Researches, iii, Append, p. 121).