8T0KE KNITE FROM TELL KL-ESST (LACmSH).
(By kind permission of the PEF).
In size the herebh was probably quite short. Ehud's 'sword' (Jg 3" RV) was a cubit (about 17 inches) long, and Goliath's (1 S 21") was a possible weapon for David. The material of all weajjons of ortence was sometimes iron and sometimes bronze (cf. Gn 4=^ Jos 8"', 1 S 17', Jg 1'", Is 10") ; at the excavations at Tell el-Iiesy (Lachish) spear- heails and a battle-axe of bronze were found as well as arrow-heads and a curved dagger (kluinjar) of iron (E. J. liliss, PEFSt, 1892, pp. 101-113, with illustrations ; for mines in Palestine cf. Driver on Dt 8"). Roughly speaking, the diflerence of metal marks a dilterence of time, bronze weapons being earlier than tho.se of iron or steel. In shape the herebh was sometimes curved with a sharp inner edge like the Egyptian sword, sometimes straight like tlie weapon worn by the Assyrians ; for illus- trations see R. E. Burton, Book of the Sword, pp. 150, 205. The ' double-ed<red ' herebh (Jg 3'", Pa 149", Pr 5*, Sir 2P) might be either curved or straight ; cf. Burton, iis above.
The use of the sword was twofold : in war to despatch the flying or fallen enemy after the bow and the spear hsA done their work, in peace to execute malefactors ; cf. 1 K 2"- **. The sword was carried in a slieath (^l'P ta'ar, Jer 47", or n* nadan, 1 Ch 21-'') ' i^irobably of leather' (Nowack, Heb, Arc/idologie, i. 303), but ancient sheaths were made also of metal (Burton, p. 222, with note 11), of wood (Schliemann, Myeenie, p. 281 ; cf. p. 303), of ivory (Odyssey, viii. 404), and perhaps even of linen (Schliemann, p. 283). When not worn a awoid might be wrapped in a cloth (1 S 21'), just as blades are bandaged with greased rags by llie natives of India (Burton, p. 232). The sheathed sword was worn hanging from a girdle (iSjo hdgOr, 2S20"; cf. I's4531«)).
Among the many interesting sword-passages oi 1 the OT are : — Gn 8" RV (the two guardians ar«
634
SWORD
SYCAMORE, SYCOMORE
the cherubim and the darting flame, i.e. prob- alily the lightning ; cf. Burton, p. 183, who sug- gests the disc-lilve sword of Merodach) ; Gn 4-' (tlie Song of the Discoveiy of the Sword, according to some) ; i)t 33-" (the Lo'ltD Israel's Bword, so E V rightly); Jg 7t'*)- ^o (tjjg war-cry 'a sword for tlie LoRU and for Gideon'); Is 27' (the Lord's sword of chastisement) ; Is 2* = Mic 4' ( ' swords into plow- shares ' a symbol of peace) ; Jl 3"* [4'"] (' plowshares into swords' a symbol of war); 2 Mac 15" (the prophet Jeremiah delivers a golden sword to Judas Maccabopus in a vision).
In LXX and NT ' sword' is represented by three words : — 1. (i(pos, a long straight sword, only in LXX. 2. fidxaipa, a word used to describe a mere knife (Gn 22'", Jg lO'-" LXX (A) for n^:.« ma'ukhc- leth ; cf. Lk 22=« in F. Field, Notes on the Trans- lation of NT, pp. 76, 77), as well as the legionary's sword (Eph 6"), and the executioner's weapon (Ac 12'-). Jldxaipa is used in Mt 26"'-, a verse sometimes supposed to refer to war, but really referring to ordinary violence ; in Eph G" of the 'sword of the Spirit, the word of God (pw^ Seou) ' received (not ' taken ') by the Christian warrior; and in He 4'- of the two-edged sword with which ' the word (6 Xi7os) of God' is compared.* 3. po/i^oia, a word of somewhat doubtful meaning, but used in several interesting passages. It is found in Latin in the forms romfea (Sir 46=) and rumpia (Livy, .xxxi. 3'.l). It is certain that it was a Thracian weapon of large size (Livy, loc. cit.), but wliether it was a sword or a spear is not quite certain. In Plutarch (/Emil. 18) the Thracians are spoken of as opBki ^OfKpaias ^apvffiO'^povi dv6 tCjv oe^Luiv ui^ojv tVtcreiofTes ('having straight i-umpus of hea\y iron swaying from their right shoulders'). Suidas (ed. Bern- hardy, 1853) gives t6 fj.aKpdv dKut^Ttov ^ /idxatpa, and Hesychius (Leyden, 1766) /idx^'P", Ji<^os, i) dKovTiov ixaKphv. In the ' Vulgate ' Psalter (taken from the LXX) poiKpaiai is rendered /ramefc (i.e. large spears such as were used by the Germans) in Ps 9', where Jerome's ' Hebrew ' Psalter gives solitudines ( =nmn). The usual Syr. rendering is ' sword,' but in Lk 2"' both Pesh. and Syr""" give rumha ' lance,' and in Rev 1'* the Philoxenian (ed. Gwynn, 1897) gives ruha (apparently a mistake for rumhn). General Pitt-Rivers, quoted by Burton (p. 183), speaks of a ' leaf shaped sword-blade attached to the end of the spear like the Thracian romphca,' but Burton himself (p. 237) says that in modem Romaic it denotes the Jlaniberge, the wavy blade carried by angels in art (ib. pp. 136, 138). That popL(pala may possibly mean 'spear' is disputed by W. Wayte (Smith's Diet. Antiq.* 1890), but acknowledged by Plunimer on Lk 2**.
Instances of the use of lioii.<t>a.la. are — Gn 3" (rriv (pXoyivTiv p., see above) ; 1 Ch 21"-" (the sword of pestilence); Sir 46- (Heb. ['n-j klddn 'javelin'); 2 Mac 15" ('the sword seen in vision) ; Lk 2" (the sword of anguish). Rev l'« 19"> (the sword of judg- ment proceeding out of the mouth of the glorilicd Christ; cf. Is 11* 49-). This hist image is not so strange as appears at first sight, for the short Roman sword was tongue - like in shape, as the annexed illustration (taken from Lindenschmit, Tracht u. BewnJ/'nung. Tab, xi. lig. 11) shows.