As to their generals, whether judges, princes, or the officers, who acted under them, their warlike deeds will be mentioned in their proper place, in the fequel of this hiftory; and, as to the people, tho' their courage wanted often to be supported by art, yet we may fay, that their men were all trained up to war, at least till David's reign, for we do not read of any regular troops before that time. Till then, as foon as their rulers had refolved upon a war, whether offenfive or defenfive, the fummons were fent to every tribe; upon which, all fit to bear arms were obliged to repair to the place of rendezvous, with their arms, and with provifion for a month: here a certain number was drawn out according to the prefent exigence, and the reft fent back; and as foon as they had atchieved what they went upon, they returned every one to his own home u (W). THEIR arms were, like thofe of other antient nations, Arms, either offenfive or defenfive; the former were fwords, fpears, javelins, bows and arrows, and flings. Their fwords were fhort, crooked, broad, and fharp, which they girded upon their thigh; we read alfo of two-edged fwords a; as for their javelins, they seem rather to have been a 1 Sam. xi. paff. xiii. 2, & alib. z Vide Exod. xxxii. 27. Pf.xlv. 3. Jud. iii. 16. a Pf. cxlix. 6. flattery, nor partial fondnefs for their own nation, but related thefe facts with the candour and fimplicity which became infpired penmen. (W) This happened very often on the fame day on which they fet out; the country being fmall, and their enemies at their elbow, it was a common thing for them to fally out, engage the enemy, beat or be beaten, and be at home on the fame, or at most on the next night. It was eafy for their army to be fubfifted, when their greatest marches did not exceed two or three days journey, The whole people of. Ifrael may therefore be looked (3) Judg.iii. vi. & xv. pass. ix. paff. upon as a body of militia trained N 2 (5) Ibid. kind kind of fhort pikes, fuch as that which Saul threw at David b. They were likewife very expert at the fling, as appears from David's killing of Goliah; and from what is recorded of the inhabitants of Gibeah, viz. that they hit within an hair's breadth (X). C THEIR defenfive arms were, the helmet, fhield, breaft-plate, coat of mail, and target: fome wore even greaves upon their legs. We find a defcription of a complete armour in that of Goliah ; but it is probable, that all these were more common among their neighbours, than among the Ifraelites, at leaft before David's reign; for we find, that, in Deborah's time, there were. found neither fhield nor fpear among the forty thousand that fought against Sisera & (Y). (X) The expreffion often ufed, gird every man his fword, and even by David in his fugitive flate (6), when he was exposed to continual dangers, fhews the cuftom of wearing offwords at any time, but that of action, not to have been known,even to the Jewish warriors. Saul is the only perfon who is obferved to have had his javelin or fpear always about him (7); and this, perhaps, not till his fufpicion and rage against David made him think himfelf unfafe without it. (Y) This might probably be owing to the policy of their neighbours, by whom they were often conquered, and not only stripped of all their old weapons, but hindered from making new ones; infomuch that the text tells us, that, on the day of battle, there were neither fword nor spear found among (6) 1 Sam. xxv, 13. ibid. xiii. 19, & feqq. f 1 Sam. xvii. 5. Saul's army,except thofe which himself and his fon Jonathan had (8). This, indeed, is very furprifing, confidering that the preceding chapter mentions one fingle victory, which that new monarch had obtained over the Ammonites, in which they might have furnished themselves with the arms of the flain, and of thofe who fled; to fay nothing of the impoffibility of their cutting that army in pieces from morning till noon, unless they had had a confiderable quantity of their own. So that, unless we fuppofe that there is an accidental tranfpofition of the chapters and facts, or that the expreffion there ufed imports no more, than that there was not. the quantity of them which the army required, we shall be at a lofs to guefs how the Philistines could, in fo fhort a time, ftrip them of all their arms. HOWEVER, it is certain, that they became more common, after they had recovered their 'liberty under David and Solomon; and, in procefs of time, Uzziah is faid to have provided a fufficient quantity of all these kinds, to furnish his army with, tho' it confifted of upwards of three hundred thoufand men k. Thefe arms were commonly made of brafs, fometimes alfo of iron, fteel, and other materials 1 (Z). 1 K2 Chron. xxvi. 13, 14. milic. des Hebr. (Z) Some interpreters, both Jewish and Chriftian, think, that the coat of mail, which Saul died in, was made of fome kind of linen, fo woven as to be impenetrable (9). They render the words, which the young Amalekite makes Saul to fay, I am intangled in this coat of linen (10), instead of anguish and terror is come upon me, as ours and other verfions have it. The truth is, the word Paw hebetz, here in queftion, doth properly fignify a fling, or a kind of net-work, fuch as the curtains of the court of the tabernacle were made of; and the fame word is ufed by the pfalmift, when he speaks of the queen's vefture (11). We may obferve here alfo, that the original has no lefs than four different names for what ours and other verfions render a fhield, namely, magen, y, zinnah, ID, fucherah. and 117, kiddon; but whether they all fignified the fame kind of defenfive weapon, and only diftinguifhed their various fhapes, and the materials they were made of, or otherwife, we dare not say. 1 Vide CALM. differt. fur la Job fpeaks of weapons of iron, and bows of brafs (12); and this laft is mentioned by the pfalmift (13); tho' our version translates it bows of steel in both places, the original being capable of both meanings. We read likewife of fhields of gold, and of brafs; but these can only be fuppofed to have been plated over with it, and that they were underneath of fome light fort of wood; elfe they must have been rather a burden than an help to thofe that wore them. From the prophet's expreffion of anointing the fhield (14), fome authors have thought, that they had got the art of covering them with leather, or raw hides (15); but thofe that were covered with brass might want oiling, as much to keep them bright, as thofe of leather, if any fuch there were, to preferve them from cracking. Upon the whole, their fighting being rather a kind of fkirmishing, than clofe and regular engagements, we find that they chiefly aimed at excelling in the ufe of thofe weapons, which hurt at a distance, fuch as were the bow, the fling, and the javelin. (9) Rabb. Levi, Munft. & al. in 2 Sam. i. 9. Calm. fub. voc. Armes. Bux tarf. fub voc. .שבץ (10) 2 Sam, ibid. XX. 24. (13) Pf. xviii. 34. (11) Pf. xlv. 13. (12) Job (14) Ifai. xxi. 5. (15) Calm. IN fo mountainous a country, cavalry could be of no great fervice; and therefore in the more early times they did not incumber themselves with any. Abfalom was the first we read of, that made use of them in his revolt against David ; but his ill fuccefs and lofs of the battle fhews, that they were of no other fervice to him, than to facilitate his flight r. Solomon did, indeed, send for a confiderable number of horses from Egypt, with a Chariots, proportionable number of chariots ; but fome think, that he did it rather for grandeur than ufe; and indeed the expence did fo far outweigh their fervice, that his fucceffors contented themselves with hiring them of the Egyptians, upon any exigence; infomuch that Rabfhakeb made their want of them a pretence for taunting king Hezekiah, that, if he should lend him two thoufand horfes, none of his fubjects were capable of riding them. From all which it appears, that the Ifraelites did not much regard either chariots or horfes (A). THE text calls them chariots of iron, because their poles, wheels, and axles, &c. were armed with fharp fithes. We are told, that they hindered, at first, the tribe of Judah from conquering thofe cities that were in the plains ", because they do moft execution there. Befides the terror they were apt to ftrike into the enemy, by being placed along the front of the line of battle, they never failed of breaking the ranks, and fometimes of s 1 Kings 2 Kings xviii. 23. r t 9 2. Sam. xv. I. (A) And yet, as to the for-, (16) Judges iv. 3, 13. Steruch, in Veget, de re militar. amounted to about thirty thoufand (17): a prodigious number indeed, if there is not crept fome error into the text; and fuch as one would scarce think their fcanty country would have been large enough to turn them in. They were indeed small, being juft fit to contain one or two men at moft; fome of them had four, and others but two wheels, and they were generally drawn by two horfes (18). (17) 1 Sam. xiii. 5. (18) Vide putting putting the adversary to a total rout; fo that there was no way of preventing it, but by either ftopping their career, by killing the horfes before their too near approach, or, if that failed, by opening a paffage to them. It is likely the Ifraelites became very well skilled in both, seeing they fo often engaged them, and still came off with victory, without oppoling the fame kind of deftru&ive engines. WE hinted before, that they kept no regular forces Standing before Saul's time; and he is mentioned to have had but army. few ftanding troops, fcarce an handful, in comparison to that prodigious number which David raised them up to, namely, to above two hundred and eighty thousand (B), befides the Cherethites and Pelethites, of whom we fhall fpeak in the fequel, who were ftrangers kept in that monarch's pay 2. Z I Chron. xviii. ver. ult. xxvii. paff. ' (B) The book of the Chro nicles tells us, that he had 24000, which came regularly upon duty every month throughout the year, under their refpective officers (19); which, being therefore multiplied by 12, amounts to 288,000. All these were not only continued on foot by his fon Solomon, but an addition was made to those forces, of a prodigious number of horses and chariots ; infomuch that he is recorded to have had forty thousand stalls for his chariot-horfes, befides twelve thousand horfes for his cavalry, or lifeguard (20); and fourteen hundred chariots of It is certain alfo, that the history of his fucceffors doth frequently mention fuch numerous armies, as would fcarce be credited in a profane author. Such were thofe of Ahijah king of Judah, and of Jeroboam the new king of Ifrael; the former of which confifted of four hun war. d ed thousand men, and the latter of double that number (21), and of which five hundred thousand were killed on the fpot, by the army of Judah (22). Such was alfo that of his fon Afa, which confifted of almost fix hundred thousand, with which he discomfited that of Zerah king of Ethiopia, which confifted of a million of men (23). But the greatest ftanding army we read of, of any of the Jewish kings, was that of Jehoshaphat, which is faid to have amounted to eleven hundred and fixty thousand, all men of valour, and prepared for the war, befides those which he kept in his garifons throughout the kingdom (24). thefe we may add, that Uzziah introduced in Jerufalem a new invention of engines, which, being fet up upon the walls and towers, caft arrows, other of fenfiveweapons,and great stones, to a confiderable distance (25). (20) ver. 17. (22) Ibid. (24) Ibid. xvii. 14, & feqq. To Kings iv. 26. Ibid. x. 26. (23) Ibid. xiv. 8, (25) Ilid. xxvi. 15. |
