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Lod - location profile

Location and Setting

• Lod, also known as Lydda (Acts 9:35), was located twenty-one miles northeast of Jerusalem in the Plain of Sharon at the edge of the Shephelah (the foothills of the Hill Country of Judea).
• Positioned along two major historical highways leading from Egypt to Babylon and from Joppa to Jerusalem, Lod was a highly sought-after economic and military asset.

Historical and Biblical Significance

• Lod lies in the part of the land given to the tribe of Benjamin after the conquest (1 Chr 8:12).
• The Jews occupied Lod after the Babylonian exile but were later overthrown by the governor of Samaria. It was 145 B.C. before they regained control under the Maccabees (1 Macc 11:34).
• Peter’s journeys led him to this city, then named Lydda, where he healed a paralyzed man named Aeneas (Acts 9:32-35). It was from here that Peter received word of the death of Tabitha in nearby Joppa, thus beginning the sequence of events that led to the penetration of the Gentile community at Caesarea.
• Historical records mention a third change of the city’s name. In the third century A.D., it is referred to as Diospolis. It was known as a center for trade of purple dye.

Bibliography

1. Aharoni, Y. and M. Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993.
2. Monson, James M. Student Map Manual. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979.
3. Payne, D.F. "Lydda" The New Bible Dictionary. 2^nd ed. Ed. J.D. Douglas. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1982.
4. White Jr., W. "Lod, Lydda" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.