With centuries thus arranged in masses, both movable and solid, a front of battle could be formed in simple decimal progression to a thou sand, ten thousand, and to an army at all times formidable by its depth, and by the facility it afforded for the light troops, chariots of war, and cavalry, to rally behind and to issue from thence to the front. Archers and slingers could ply their missiles from the rear, which would be more certain to reach an enemy in close conflict than was to be found the case with the Greek phalanx, because from the great depth of that body missiles from behind were liable to fall among its own front ranks. These divisions were commanded, it seems, by 0,.np, ketsiniat, officers in charge of one thou sand, who, in the first Dges, may have been the heads of houses, but in the time of the kings were appointed by the crown, and had a seat in the councils of war ; but the commander of the host tcvn sar 211 hat-tzaba—such as Joab, Abner, Benaiah, etc.—was either the judge, or, under the judge or king, the supreme head of the army, and one of the higheAt officers in the state. He, as well as the king, had an armour-bearer, whose duty was not only to bear his shield, spear, or bow, and to carry orders, but above all, to be at the chiefs side in the hour of battle (Judg. ix. 54 ; Sam. xiv. ; xxxi. 4, 5). Beside the royal guards, there W6.3, as early at least as the time of David, a select troop of heroes, who appear to have had an institution very similar in principle to our modern orders of knighthood, and may have originated the distinctive marks already pointed out as used by the Romans ; for it seems they strewed their hair with gold dust. [ARms.] In military operations, such as marches in quest of, or in the presence of, an enemy, and in order of battle, the forces were formed into three divisions, each commanded by a chief captain or commander of a corps, or third part, Ityk,", or Nt.:*, shelish, as was also the case with other armies of the East ; these constituted the centre, and right and left wing, and during a march formed the van, centre, and rear. The great camp in the wilderness was cornposed of four of these triple bodies disposed in a quadrangle, each front having a tribal great cen tral standard, and another tribal one in each wing.
The war-cry of the Hebrews was not intonated by the ensign-bearers, as in the West, but by a Levite ; for priests had likewise charge of the trumpets, and the sounding of signals ; and one of them, called the anointed for war,' who is said to have had the charge of animating the army to action by an oration, may have been appointed to utter the cry of battle (Deut. xx. 2). It was a mere shout (I Sam. xvii. 20), or, as in later ages, Hallehrjah! while the so-called mottoes of the central banners of the four great sides of the square, of Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan, were more likely the battle-songs which each of the fronts of the mighty army had sung on commencing the march, or ad vancing to do battle (Num. x. 34, 35, 36 ; Deut. vi. 4). These verses may have been sung even before the two books wherein they are now found were written, and indeed the sense of the text indi cates a past tense. It was to these we think Jebo shaphat addressed himself when about to engage the Moabites : he ordered the singers before the Lord' to chant the response (2 Chron. xx. 2t) : Praise the Lord, for bis mercy endureth for ever.' With regard to the pass-word, the sign of mutual recognition occurs in Judg. vii. when, after the men had blown their trumpets and shown light, they cried : The sword of the Lord and of Gideon'—a repetition of the very words overheard by that chief while watching the hostile army.
Before an engagement the Hebrew soldiers were spared fatigue as much as possible, and food was distributed to them ; their arms were enjoined to be in the best order, and they formed a line, as before described, of solid squares of hundreds, each square being ten deep, and as many in breadth, with sufficient intervals between the files to allow of facility in the movements, the management of the arms, and the passage to the front or rear of slingers and archers. These last occupied posts according to circnmstances, on the flanks, or in advance, but in the heat of battle were sheltered behind the squares of spearmen ; the slingers were always stationed in the rear, until they were ordered forward to cover the front, impede a hostile ap proach, or commence an engagement, somewhat in the manner of modern skirmishers. Meantime the king or his representative appeared, clad in holy ornaments, 07 hadri kodesh (in our version rendered the beauties of holiness,' Ps. cx. 3 ; 2 Chron. xx. 21), and proceeded to make the final dispositions for battle, in the middle of his chosen braves, and attended by priests, who, by their exhortations, animated the ranks within hearing, while the trumpets waited to sound the signal. It was now, with the enemy at hand, we may suppose, that the slingers would be ordered to pass forward between the intervals of the line, and, opening their order, would let fly their stone or leaden missiles, until, by the gradual approach of the opposing fronts, they would be hemmed in and recalled to the rear, or ordered to take an appro priate position. Then was the time when the
trumpet-bearing priests received command to sound the charge, and when the shout of battle burst forth from the ranks. The signal being given, the heavy infantry would press forward under cover of their shields, with the nn-) (romach) protruded direct upon the front of the enemy : the rear ranks might then, when so armed,' cast their darts ; and the archers, behind them all, shoot high, so as to pitch their arrows over the lines before them, into the dense masses of the enemy beyond. If the opposing forces broke through the line, we may imagine a body of charioteers reserve, rushing from their post, and charging in among the disjointed ranks of the enemy, before they could reconstruct their order ; or wheeling round a flank, fall upon the rear ; or being en countered by a similar manceuvre, and perhaps repulsed, or rescued by Hebrew cavalry. The king, meanwhile, surrounded by his princes, posted close to the rear of his line of battle, and in the middle of showered missiles, would watch the enemy and strive to remedy every disorder. Thus it was that several of the sovereigns of Judah were slain (2 Chron. xviii. 33 ; xxxv. 23), .and that such an enormous waste of human life took place ; for two hostile lines of masses, at least ten in depth, advancing under the confidence of breastplate and shield, when once engaged band to hand, had diffi culties of no ordinary nature to retreat ; because the hindermost ranks, not being exposed personally. to the first slaughter, would not, and the foremost could not, fall back ; neither could the commanders disengage the line without a certainty of being, routed. The fate of the day was therefore no longer within the control of the chief, and nothing but obstinate valour was left to decide the victory. Hence, with the stubborn character of the Jews, battles fought among themselves were particularly sanguinary ; such, for example, as that in Which Jeroboam king of Israel was defeated by Abijah of Judah (2 Chron. xiii. 3-17), wherein, if there be no error of copyists, there was a greater slaughter than in ten such battles as that of Leipsic, although on that occasion 35o,000 combatants were engaged, for three successive days, provided with all the im plements of modern destruction in full activity. Under such circumstances defeat led to irretrievable confusion, and where either party possessed supe riority in cavalry and chariots of war it would be materially increased ; but where the infantry alone had principally to pursue a broken enemy, that force, loaded with shields and preserving order, could overtake very few who chose to abandon their defensive armour, unless they were hemmed in by the locality. Sometimes a part of the army was posted in ambush, but this manceuvrc was most commonly practised against the gan-isons of cities (Josh. viii. 12 ; Judg. xx. 38). In the case of Abraham (Gen. xiv. 15), when Ile led a small body of his own people, suddenly collected, and falling upon the guard of the captives, released them, and recovered the booty, it was a surprise, not an ambush ; nor is it necessary to suppose that he fell in with the main army of the enemy. At a later period there is no doubt the Hebrews formed their armies, in imitation of the Romans, into more than one line of masses, and modelled their military institutions as near as possible upon the same system.
Such were the instrument's and the institutions of war, which the Hebrew people, as well as the nations which surrounded them, appear to have adopted ; but in the conquest of the Promised Land, as regarcled their enemies, the laws of war prescribed to' them were, for purposes which we cannot now fully appreciate, more severe than in other cases. All the nations of antiquity were cruel to the vanquished, perhaps the Romans most of all : even the Egyptians, in the sculptures of their monuments, attest the same disposition — the males being very generally slaughtered, and the women and children sold for slaves. With regard to the spoil, except in the special case just referred to, the Hebrews divided it in part with those who remained at home, and with the Levites, and a portion was set apart as an obla tion to the Lord (Num. xxxi. 50). This right of spoil and prey was a necessary consequence of military institutions where the army received no pay. t:1, :halal, that is, the armour, clothes, money, and furniture, and Imjbu, malkoch, prey, consisting of the captives and live stock, were col lected into one general mass, and then distributed as stated above ; or, in the time of the kings, were shared in great part by the crown, which then, no doubt, took care to subsist the army and grant military rewards, [ARAN ; ARmoutt ; ENCANIP MENT ; ENGINES ; FORTIFICATIONS ; STAND ARDS].-C. H. S.