Axe. Several instruments of this description are so discriminated in Scripture as to show that the He- brews had them of different forms and for various uses. (1.) "jna, garzm' (so called from chopping), which occurs in Deut. xix, 5; xx, 19; 1 Kings vi, 7; Isa. x, 15; a'tivri, Mitt, iii, 10; Luke iii, 9; corre- sponding to the Lat. s"curis). Erom these passages it appears that this kind was employed in felling trees (comp. Isa. x, 34), and in hewing large timber for building. The conjecture of Gesenius, that in 1 Kings v, 7, it denotes the axe of a stone-mason, is by no means conclusive. The first text supposes a case of the head slipping from the helve in felling a tree (comp. 2 Kings vi, 5). This would suggest that it was shaped like tig. 3, which is just the same instrument as our common hatchet, and appears to have been applied by the an- cient Egyptians to the same general use as with us. The reader will observe the contrivance in all the oth- ers (wanting in this) of fastening the head to the haft by thongs. (2.) nxSJiO, madtsad' (a hewing instru-
AXE
572
AXLE
Ancient Kgyptian Axes, ( leaver, and Adzes. From the Brit- ish Museum.
ment), which occurs only in Isa. xliv, 12 (where it is rendered "tongs") and Jer. x, 3. From the latter of these passages it appears to have been a lighter in- strument than the preceding, or a kind of adze, used for fashioning or carving wood into shape ; it was probably, therefore, like tigs. 4 to 7, which the Egyp- tians employed for this purpose. Other texts of Scrip- ture represent such implements as being employed in carving images, the use to which the prophets refer. The differences of form and size, as indicated in the figures, appear to have been determined with reference to light or heavy work. The passage in Isaiah, how- ever, as it refers to the blacksmith's operations at the. forge, may possibly designate some kind of chisel. (3.) n^lj?, k'ardoni (from its sharpness) ; this is the commonest name for an axe or hatchet. It is of this which we read in Judg. ix, 4* ; Psa. lxxiv, 5 ; 1 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 a heavier head. In one of the Egyptian sculptures the inhabitants of Leb- anon are represented as felling pine-trees with axes like fig. 1. See Lebanon. 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 term 2"in, che'rcb (destroyer), usu- ally '"a sword," is used of other cutting instruments, as a "knife" (Josh, v, 2), or razor (Ezek. vi, 1), or a tool for hewing or dressing stones (Exod. xx, 25), and is once rendered "axe" (Ezek. xxvi, 9), and there may probably mean a heavy cutlass, like fig. 2, or per- haps battle-axe, or possibly even pick-axe, as it is there used to denote a weapon for destroying build- ings. (.">.) A similar instrument, 3*1!!??, kaslishil' (J'ell- once spoken of (Psa. lxxiv, (!) as a battle-axe. 1 1 also occurs in the Targum (Jer. xlvi, 22) in the Bense of broad-axe. (6.) Iron implements of severe labor. ""*:.", magzerah' ("axe," 2 Sam. xii, 31), and --;:. megi rah' (--axe," 2 Chron. xx, 3; also in the same verse more properly "saw," and in 2 Sam. xii, 31 ; 1 Kings vii. It), were used by David in the mas- sacre of the inhabitants of Rabbah, but their form can- not be made out. See Saw. (7.) The word Vna, ban I '. rendered "axe-head" in 2 Kings vi, 5, is liter- ally "iron;" but, as an axe is certainly intended, the is valuable as Bhowing that the axe-heads among the Hebrews were of iron. Those which have been found iii Egypt are of. bronze, which was very anciently and generally nsed for the purpose. But this does not prove thai they had none of iron; it seems rather to suggest thai those of iron have been
consul I by the corrosion <>f three thousand j'ears,
while those of bronze have been preserved. See
Helve. (8.) The " battle-axe," "j'B1?, mappets' (Jer. li, 20), was probably, as its root indicates, a heavy mace or maul, like that which gave his surname to Charles Muriel. See Battle-axe.
Ancient Assy.ian Axe-head. From the British Museum
The most common use of the axe, as is well known, is to cut down trees ; hence the expression in Matt, iii, 10, and Luke iii, 9, "the axe is laid at the root of the trees" (comp. Silius Italicus, 10; also Virgil, Aln. vi, 180; Isa. x, 33). That trees are a general symbol of men is well known. See Forest ; Tree. (See also Ezek. xxxi, 3; Dan. iv, 7, 8; Matt, vii, 19; xii, 33; Psa. i, 3 ; Zech. xi, 1, 2). What John Baptist there- fore refers to is probably the excision of the Jewish nation. But there is a force in the preposition used here which escapes the ordinary reader : the expression ;rpo£ ti)v pi%av ruJv SivOpwv Kilrai, denotes that it b:;d already been struck into the tree preparatory to felling it, and now only awaited the signal for the utter ven- geance of Heaven. The axe was also used as the in- strument of decollation, to which there is allusion in Iiev. xx, 4, "The souls of them that were leheaded for the testimony of Jesus," literally, "cut with an axe." Hence the axe becomes a symbol of the divine judgments. Sometimes it is applied to a human instru- ment, as in Isa. x, 15, "Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith ?" i. e. Shall the proud king of Assyria boast himself against God, whose instrument he is to execute his purpose ? In Jer. li, 20, the army of the Medes and Persians is most probably intended, as elsewhere the instrument of God's vengeance is called a sword, a rod, a scourge (see also Jer. xlvi, 22). By axes, which were a part of the insignia of the Roman magistracy, was denoted the power of life and death and of supreme judgment. Axes were also used in war (Sidonius, Carm. El. v, 247 ; Horace, Ode iv, 4 ; Carm. Seait. 54 ; Virgil, j£n. ii, 480). Axes were used in sacrifice ; hence called the axe of the, Hierophant. These are seen on various coins (Smith's Hist, of Class. Ant. s. v. Securis).