AVITH la'vith), (I leb. av-reeth', hut, vil lage), a city of Hadad ben-liedad, one of the kings of Edom before there were kings of Israel ((yen. xxxvi 35;t Citron. i $6).
AWL (awl), (Ileb. mar.tsayah, from verb signifying "to bore").
it denotes an awl or other instrument for boring a small hole, occurs in Exod. xxi :6; Deut xv :t7. Considering that the Israelites had at that time recently withdrawn front their long sojourn in Egypt, there can be no doubt that the instruments were the same as tho c of that country, the forms of which, from actual specimens in the British Museum, arc shown in the annexed cut. They are such as were used by the sandal-makers and other workers in leather.
3. A:or-dome' (Hell. this is the com monest name for an ax or hatchet. It is this of which we read in Judg. ix :48; Ps. lxxiv :5; AX or AXE (ax), in most modern editions of A. V. spelt ax, although the edition of 1611 had axe throughout.
Several instruments of this description are so discriminated in Scripture as to show that the Hebrews had them of different forms and for various uses, which occurs in Deut. xix.
1. Gar-zen' (Heb. to cut, Deut, xix:5; xx:i9; .1 Kings vi:7; Ls. x:15). From these pas sages it appears that this kind was employed in felling trees, and in hewing large timbers for building. The conjecture of Gesenius that in Kings vi:7 it denotes the axe of a stonemason, is by no means conclusive. The first text sup poses a case of the head slipping from the helve in felling a tree. This would suggest that it was shaped like Fig. 3, which is just the same instru ment as our common hatchet, and appears to have been applied by the ancient Egyptians to the same general use as with us. The reader will observe the contrivance in all the others (wanting in this) of fastening the head to the haft by thongs.
2. Alah-ats-awd (Heb. a hewing in strument), rendered "tongs" in Is. xliv :12; and "axe," Jer. x :3. From these passages it appears to have been a lighter implement than the former, or a kind of adze, used for fashioning or carving wood into shape; it was, probably, therefore, like Figs. 4 to 7, which the Egyptians employed for this purpose. Some texts of Scripture represent them as being employed in carving images—the use to which the prophets refer. The differences
of form and size, as indicated in the figures, ap pear to have been determined with reference to light or heavy work; Fig. 3 is a finer carving tool.
Sam. xiii :20, 21 ; Jer. xlvi :22. It appears to have been more exclusively employed than the garzen for felling trees, and had therefore probably heavier head. In one of the Egyptian sculptures the inhabitants of Lebanon are represented as felling pine trees with axes like Fig. I. As the one used by the Egyptians for the same purpose was also of this shape, there is little doubt that it was also in use among the Hebrews.
4. The word inar-tsay'-ah, rendered 'axe' in 2 Kings, vi :5, is literally 'iron ;' but as an axe is certainly intended, the passage is valuable as showing that the axeheads among the Hebrews were of iron. Those which have been found in Egypt are of bronze, which was very anciently and generally used for the purpose. But this does not prove that they had none of iron; it seems rather to suggest that those of iron have been consumed by the corrosion of three thousand years, while those of bronze have been preserved. All our figures are from actual specimens now in the British Museum.
5. Mag-zay-raw' (Heb. "iron cutting tools" (2 Sam. xii:31). Meg-ay-raw' (Heb. is also used in the same passage, also i Chron• xx:3, and means a saw.
6. Kheh'reb (Heb. usually rendered "sword," is used of other cutting instruments; once rendered "ax" (Ezek. xxvi :9) ; probably a pickax, as it is said that "with his axes he shall break down thy towers." 7. Kash-shee• (Heb. occurs only in Ps.
lxxiv :6, and appears to have been a later word denoting a large ax.
Ax in Greek is dElvn, ax-ee'nay (Matt. iii:to; Luke iii:9).
Figuratitie. The Assyrians and Chaldeans are likened to an a.r. By them God cut down, de stroyed, and scattered the nations around (Is. x :15; Jer. I:21). The ar was laid to the root of the tree with the Jews. In Christ's time the destructive judgments of God were ready to be executed on their church and state, if they did not speedily receive Christ, repent of their sins, and bring forth good works (Matt. iii:io).