ARMS, ARMOR (arms, 1. OffensiVe Arms. The instruments at first employed in the chase, but converted to the de struction of their fellow-men, or to oppose ag gression. were naturally the most simple.
(1) and Mace. Among these were the club and the throwing-bat. The first sisted originally of a heavy piece of wood, vari ously shaped, made to strike with, and, ac cording to its forms, denominated a mace, a bar. It is an instrument of great power when use among the Hebrews, for, in the time of the kings, wood had already been superseded by metal, and the shevet barrel, rod of iron ( Ps. ii :9), is supposed to mean a mace, or gavelock, or crow bar. It is an instrument of great power when used by a strong arm. It is probable maphiets (Prov. xxv :18; Ps. Ivii :4; cxx :3, 4) is a maul. a mart el. or a war hammer. It is likely metal was only in general use at a later period, and that a heavy crooked billet continued longg, to serve both as a missile and a sword. The throwstick, made of thorn wood, is the s.une instrument which we see figured on Egyptian monuments. 13y the native Arabs it is still (2) Sword. These instruments, supplied with a sharp edge, would naturally constitute a battle axe and a kind of sword, and such in the rudest ages we find them, made with 'lints set into a groove or with sharks' teeth firmly secured to the staff with twisted sinews.
Next came the dirk or poniard, which, in the Hebrew word chem., may possibly retain some allusion to the original instrument made of the antclope's horn, merely sharpened, which is still used in every part of the East where the material can be procured. From existing figures, the dirk appears to have been early made of metal in Egypt and worn in the belt. From several texts z Sam. xvii :39; 2 Sam. xx :8, and 1 Kings xx: 1) it is evident that the real sword was slung in a belt, and that 'girding' and 'loosing the sword' were synonymous terms for commencing and end ing a war. The blades were, it seems, always short (one is mentioned of a cubit's length), and carried two darts, those lightly armed using both for long casts, and the heavy armed only one for that purpose; the second, more ponderous than the other, being reserved for throwing when close to the enemy, or for handling in the man ner of a spear. This explanation may throw light on the fact of the chaneth being named in con nection with the tsenna, or larger buckler (1 Chron. xii:34), and may reconcile what is said
of the kedon (Job xxxix :23; xli :29 ; and Josh. viii :so). While on the subject of the javelin it may be remarked that, by the act of casting one at David (s Sam. xix:o, so), Saul virtually ab solved him from his allegiance, for by the cus toms of ancient Asia, preserved in the usages of the Teutonic and other nations, the Sachsen rccht, the custom of the East Franks, etc., to throw a dart at a freedman, who escaped from it by flight, was the demonstrative token of manumission given by his lord or master; he was thereby sent out of hand, manumissus, well expressed in the the dirk-sword, at least, was always double-edged. The sheath was ornamented and polished. But while metal was scarce, there were also swords which might be called quarter pikes, being com posed of a very short wooden handle, surmounted by a spearhead.
(3) Spear, Javelin and Dart. The spear, ramach, was another offensive weapon common to all the nations of antiquity, and was of various size, weight and length. Probably the shepherd Hebrews, like nations similarly situated in north ern Africa, anciently made use of the horn of an oryx, or a leucoryx, about three feet long, straight ened in water and sheathed upon a thorn-wood staff. When sharpened, this instrument would penetrate the hide of a bull, and, according to Strabo, even of an elephant ; it was light, very difficult to break, resisted the blow of a battle-axe, and the animals which furnished it were abundant in Arabia and in the desert east of Palestine. At a later period the head was of brass, and after wards of iron. Very ponderous weapons of this kind were often used in Egypt by the heavy in fantry, and, from various circumstances, it may be inferred that among the Hebrews and their immediate neighbors, commanders in particular were distinguished by heavy spears. Among these were generally ranked the most valiant in fight and the largest in stature, such as Goliath, `whose spear was like a weaver's beam' (s Sam. xvii :7; 2 Sam. xxi :16). and whose spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. which by some is asserted to be equal to twenty-five pounds' weight. The spear had a point of metal at the butt-erd to fix it in the ground, perhaps with the same massy globe above it, which is still in use, intended to counterbalance the point. It was with this Ferrel that Abner slew Asahel (2 Sam. ii: 22, 23) .