2 Cronica 26:15

Filipino Cebuano Bible

15 Ug iyang gihimo sa Jerusalem ang mga maquina, minugna sa batid nga mga tawo, nga igabutang sa mga torre ug ibabaw sa mga torre sa mga pamag-ang, diin himoa ang mga pagpana ug mga pangbuno sa mga bato. Ug ang iyang ngalan nabantug sa bisan diin; kay siya gitabangan sa katingalahan gayud nga paagi , hangtud nga siya nalig-on.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

cunning men: 2 Chronicles 2:7, 2 Chronicles 2:14, Exodus 31:4

to shoot arrows: These engines, it is probable, bore some resemblance to the baliste and catapulte of the Romans, which were employed for throwing stones and arrows, and were in reality the mortars and carcasses of antiquity. With respect to the towers which Uzziah built in the wilderness - 2 Chronicles 26:10, Mr. Harmer appears to have given a truer view of the subject than commentators in general have done, who suppose that they were conveniences made only for sheltering the shepherds from bad weather, or to defend them from incursions of enemies; for they might rather be designed to keep the nations that pastured there in awe, and also to induce them quietly to pay the tribute to which the 2 Chronicles 26:8, seems to refer. William of Tyre describes a country not far from the Euphrates as inhabited by Syrian and Armenian Christians, who fed great flocks and herds there, but were kept in subjection to the Turks, in consequence of their living among them in strong places.

spread far: Heb. went forth, Matthew 4:24

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 20:20 - thou shalt build 2 Chronicles 11:12 - he put shields 2 Chronicles 32:5 - darts Ezekiel 26:9 - General Mark 6:14 - his name

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers, and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal,.... Such as with the Romans were called "catapultae", "ballistae" u, "scorpiones" w, c. and by this it appears that these were not first invented in Greece and Rome, but in Judea. It is said x, that the Romans received the machine to batter cities from the Greeks, and that the Trojan horse was no other than a battering ram but if they did, the invention of them must be ascribed, not to them, but rather to the Syrians and Phoenicians, according to Pliny y; though others z suppose the Carthaginians, who were a colony of theirs, to be the inventors of them; yet, after all, they seem to be the device of some skilful men among the Jews, in the times of Uzziah; according to Diodorus Siculus a, they were not found out when Nineveh was besieged in the times of Sardanapalus:

and his name spread far abroad; in distant countries, for his warlike dispositions and preparations, which made them stand in fear of him:

for he was helped until he was strong; he was wonderfully helped by the Lord to build fortified places, raise a numerous army, and provide all sorts of armour for them, and invent such machines as would greatly annoy the enemy, whereby he became very potent, and injected dread round about him.

u Cicero. Tusculan. Quaest. l. 2. Tacit. Hist. l. 3. c. 23. w Ammian. Marcellin. l. 23. x Vid. Valtrinum de re militari Roman. l. 5. c. 6. y Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 56. z Vitruvius de Architectura, l. 10. c. 19. Tertullian. de Pallio, c. 1. & Salmasius in ib. Vid. Turnebi Adversaria, l. 29. c. 18. a Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 113.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Uzziah’s engines seem to have corresponded respectively to the Roman balista and catapulta. The balista, which threw stones, was known to the Assyrians as early as the time of Sardanapalus I, the contemporary of Jehoshaphat. The catapult is not represented either on the Assyrian or the Egyptian sculptures. It would seem on the whole most probable that both kinds of engines were invented in Assyria and introduced from thence into Palestine.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Chronicles 26:15. Engines - to shoot arrows and great stones — The Targum says, "He made in Jerusalem ingenious instruments, and little hollow towers, to stand upon the towers and upon the bastions, for the shooting of arrows, and projecting of great stones."

This is the very first intimation on record of any warlike engines for the attack or defense of besieged places; and this account is long prior to any thing of the kind among either the Greeks or Romans. Previously to such inventions, the besieged could only be starved out, and hence sieges were very long and tedious. Shalmaneser consumed three years before such an inconsiderable place as Samaria, 2 Kings 17:5-6; Sardanapalus maintained himself in Nineveh for seven years, because the besiegers had no engines proper for the attack and destruction of walls, c., and it is well known that Troy sustained a siege of ten years, the Greeks not possessing any machine of the kind here referred to. The Jews alone were the inventors of such engines and the invention took place in the reign of Uzziah, about eight hundred years before the Christian era. It is no wonder that, in consequence of this, his name spread far abroad, and struck terror into his enemies.