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Bible Dictionaries
Arms
Morrish Bible Dictionary
or The offensive arms found in the O.T. are:
1. The SWORD, for which several Hebrew words are used: a. baraq, often translated 'lightning;' it is 'glittering sword' in Job 20:25 . b. chereb, a sword, as laying waste. It is the word commonly used in the O.T. for sword (everywhere indeed except in the references given here under the other words): it was a straight tapering weapon, with two edges and a sharp point. Psalm 149:6; Isaiah 14:19 . It is used metaphorically for keen and piercing words, as in Psalm 57:4; Psalm 64:3 . c. retsach, an undefined slaying weapon, translated 'sword' only in Psalm 42:10 . d. shelach, a missile of death, as a dart. Job 33:18; Job 36:12; Joel 2:8 . e. pethichoth, from 'to open,' is translated 'drawn sword' in Psalm 55:21 .
2. SPEARS. a. chanith, thus named as being flexible: it is the word mostly used for the spear. 1 Samuel 13:19; Psalm 57:4 . It is this weapon that will be beaten into pruning hooks. Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3 . b. kidon, a smaller kind of lance, or javelin. Joshua 8:18,26; Job 41:29; Jeremiah 6:23 . c. tselatsal, harpoon. Job 41:7 . d. qayin, lance, 2 Samuel 21:16 . e. romach, spear used by heavy-armed troops, the iron head of a spear. Judges 5:8 , etc. The pruning hooks are to be beaten into spears in the time of God's judgements. Joel 3:10 .
3. BOW, from which arrows are discharged, qesheth, generally made of wood, but sometimes of steel or brass. Job 20:24 . It is constantly found in the O.T. from Genesis to Zechariah. It is used to express punishment from God, Lamentations 2:4; Lamentations 3:12; and of men to show their power to injure. Psalm 37:14,15 . 'A deceitful bow' expresses a man who fails just when his aid is most needed, as when a bow breaks suddenly. Psalm 78 :57; Hosea 7:16 .
4. The SLING, by which stones are discharged, qela. It was by meansof this that David smote Goliath. 1 Samuel 17:40,49,50 . Of the Benjamites there were 700 men lefthanded; "every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss." Judges 20:16 . (In Proverbs 26:8 occurs another word for sling margemah, but the passage is considered better translated "as he that putteth a precious stone in a heap of stones," as in the margin. )
5. 'ENGINES,' with which Uzziah shot arrows and great stones. 2 Chronicles 26:15 .
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Morrish, George. Entry for 'Arms'. Morrish Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/mbd/a/arms.html. 1897.
