Armor-bearer (n^bs N^i, nose kelim'), an of- ficer selected by kings and generals from the bravest of their favorites, whose service it was not only to bear their armor, but to stand by them in danger and carry their orders, somewhat after the manner of adjutants in modern service. (Jud. ix, 54 ; 1 Sam. xiv, 6 ; xvi, 21 ; xxxiii, 4.)
Armory (ItT'Qbn, talpiyoth', destructives, i. e. •weapons, Cant, iv, 4), the place in which armor was deposited in times of peace. Solomon had a naval ar- senal at Ezion-geber (Jer. i, 25; 1 Kings ix, 26). There is mention made in Neh. iii, 19, of an armory (pU3, ne'shek, elsewhere armor) in Jerusalem, "at the turning of the wall," meaning probably the bend in the browofZion opposite the south-western corner of the Temple, near where the bridge connected them, although Josephus {Ant. ix, 7, 2) speaks of the armory as being in the temple itself. This was probably the arsenal ("house of armor") which Hezekiah took so much pride in showing to the Babylonian ambassadors (Isa. xxxix, 2). Dr. Barclay (City of the Great King, p. 155) thinks it was the same as "the house of the forest of Lebanon" (2 Kings x, 17; Isa. xxii, 8), and locates it at the north-eastern corner of Zion, adjoining the north-western angle of the Xystus. See Arsenal.
Armstrong, James, a Methodist Episcopal minis- ter, was born in Ireland in 1787 or '8, emigrated in childhood, was converted in Philadelphia at seventeen, licensed as local preacher in Baltimore at twenty-four, emigrated to Indiana in 1821 and entered the itiner- ant ministry, in which he labored with ability and great success until his death, which occurred in Laporte county in Sept. 1834. — Minutes of Conferences, ii, 344.
Armstrong, John, a Baptist minister, was born Nov. 27, 1798, at Philadelphia, graduated at Columbian College, Washington, D. C, in 1825, and became pas- tor of the Baptist Church in Newbern, N. C, where he remained several j'ears. In 1835 Mr. Armstrong was appointed professor in Wake Forest Institute ; and, being desirous of increasing his usefulness, travelled for some time in 1837-39 in Europe. In 1840 he be- came pastor of the church in Columbus, Miss., whence he removed in 1843 to his plantation in Noxubee coun- ty, Miss., where he died Sept. 15, 1844. — Sprague, An- nals, vi, 753.
Armstrong, William Jessup, D.D., an emi- nent Presbyterian minister, born at Mendham, N. J., in 1796, and graduated at Princeton in 1816, was li- censed to preach in 1818. He labored in Trenton and Richmond till 1834, when he became secretary to the Am. Bd. Comm. for Foreign Missions. By the wreck of the steamer Atlantic in Long Island Sound, Nov.
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27, 1846, he was drowned. A Memoir, by Eev. H. Read, with A Selection of Armstrong's Sermons, was published in 1853. — Sprague, Annals, iv, 612.
Army, represented by several Heb. and Gr. words. See War.
I. Jewish. — The military organization of the Jews commenced with their departure from the land of Egypt, and was adapted to the nature of the expedi- tion on which they then entered. Every man above 20 years of age was a soldier (Num. i, 3); each tribe formed a regiment, with its own banner and its own lead r | Num. ii, 2 ; x, 14) ; their positions in the camp or on the march were accurately rixed (Num. ii) ; the whole army started and stopped at a given signal (Num. x, 5, 6) ; thus they came up out of Egypt ready for the fight (Exod. xiii, 18). That the Israelites pre- served the same exact order throughout their march may be inferred from Balaam's language (Num. xxiv, 6). On the approach of an enemy, a conscription was made from the general body under the direction of a muster-master (originally named "IBia, Dent, xx, 5, "officer," afterward IBID, 2 Kings xxv, 19, "scribe of the host," both terms occurring, however, together in 2 Chron. xxvi, 11, the meaning of each being pri- marily a writer), by whom also the officers were ap- pointed (Deut. xx, 9). From the number so selected some might be excused serving on certain specified grounds (Deut. xx, 5-8 ; 1 Mace, hi, 56). The army was then divided into thousands and hundreds under their respective captains (a^sbxn "VJ and TINE!! "lb, Num. xxxi, 14), and still farther into families (Num. ii, 34 ; 2 Chron. xxv, 5 ; xxvi, 12), the family being regarded as the unit in the Jewish polity. From the time the Israelites entered the land of Canaan un- til the establishment of the kingdom, little progress was made in military affairs: their wars resembled border forays, and the tactics turned upon stratagem rather than upon the discipline and disposition of the forces. Skilfully availing themselves of the opportu- nities which the country offered, they gained the vic- tory sometimes by an ambush (Josh, viii, 4), some- times by surprising the enemy (Josh, x, 9; xi, 7; Judg. vii, 21 ), and sometimes by a judicious attack at the time of fording a river (Judg. til, 28 ; iv, 7 ; vii, 24; xii, 5). No general muster was made at this pe- riod ; but the combatants were summoned on the spur of the moment either by trumpet-call (Judg. iii, 27), by messengers (Judg. vi, 35), by some significant to- ken (1 Sam. xi, 7), or, as in later times, by the erec- tion of a standard (63, Isa. xviii, 3 ; Jer. iv, 21 ; li, 27), or a beacon-fire on an eminence (Jer. vi, 1). See Battle.