2. Apparently lighter than the preceding, and in more than one passage distinguished from it, was the kidon ("jn^r), to which the word "javelin" perhajis best answers (Ewald, Wnrfspiess'). It would be the ap- propriate weapon for such manoeuvring as that described in Josh, viii, 14-27, and could with ease be held out- stretched for a considcral)le time (ver. 18, 26; A. V, "sjiear"). When not in action the kidon was carried t>n the back of the warrior, between the shoulders (I Sam. xvii, 6. "target," and in the margin "gorget"). Botii in this passage and in ver. 45 of the same c!iM)iter the kiilon is liistinguislied from liie chanilh. In Job xxxix, 23 (-'spear") the allusion seems to be to the quivering of a javelin when poised i)efore hurling it.
3. Another kind of spear was the i-iimach (ITC"!). In the historical books it occurs in Numb, xxv, 7 ("jave-
SPEAR
913
SPEARMAN^
lin") and in 1 Kings xviii, 28 ("lancets;" ed. IGII, "lancers"); also frequently in the later books, especially in the often -recurring formula for arms, "shield and spear. -^^ 1 Chron. xii, 8 ("buckler"), 2-i ("spear"); 2 Chron. xi, 12; xiv, 8; xxv, 5; aud Neh. iv, 13, 16-21; Ezek. xxxix, 9, etc.
4. A lighter missile, or " dart," was probably the she- Inch (nbl!)). Its root signifies to project or send out, but unfortunately there is nothing beyond the deriva- tion to guide us to any knowledge of its nature: see 2 Chron. xxiii, 10; xxxii, 5 ("darts"); Neh. iv, 17, 23 (see margin); Job xxxiii, 18; xxxvi, 12; Joel ii, 8.
5. The word shebet (^2'^), the ordinary meaning of which is a rod or staff, with the derived force of a baton or sceptre, is used once only with a military significa- tion, for the "darts" with which Joab despatched Absa- lom (2 Sam. xviii, 14). — Smith.
Other Hebrew words occasionally rendered "spear" are "pp, kdyin, the shn/t, or perhaps head, of a lance (2 Sam. xxi, 16) ; and 5^P^, tselatsdl, a harpoon (Job xli, 7 [Heb. xl, 31]).
In general terms the spear may be described as a wooden staff surmounted with a head of metal, double- edged and pointed, and carried by the heavy -armed infantry. Great care was usually taken in polishing the handle; and its entire length was under six feet (Jer. xlvi, 4 ; John xix, 34). Warriors of gigantic strength seem to have prided themselves on the length and weight of their spears. The " staff of Goliath's spear was like a weaver's beam, and its head weighed six hundred shekels of iron" (1 Sam. xvii, 7). The butt end of the spear was usually sliod with a metal point, for the convenience of sticking it in the earth (2 Sam. ii, 22, 23).
Among the ancient Egyptians the spear, or pike, was of wood, between five and six feet in length, with a metal head, into which the shaft was inserted and fixed with nails. The head was of bronze or iron, often very large, and with a double edge; but the spear does not appear to have been furnished with a metal point at the other extremity, called (Tavf)(OTi)p by Homer (//. xx, 151), which is still adopted in Turkish, modern Egyp- tian, and other spears, in order to plant them upright in the ground, as the spear of Saul was fixed near his head while he " lay sleeping within the I rench" (comp. Virg. ^fJii. xii, 130). Spears of this kind may sometimes come under the denomination of javelins, the metal be- ing intended as well for a counterpoise in their Hight as for the purpose above mentioned; but such an addition to those of the heavy-armed infantry was neither requi- site nor convenient. The javelin, lighter and shorter than the spear, was also of wood, and similarly armed with a strong two-edged metal head, of an elongated diamond or leaf shape, either flat or increasing in thick- ness at the centre, and sometimes tapering to a very long point; and the upper extremity of its shaft termi- nated in a bronze knob, surmounted by a ball with two thongs or tassels, intended both as an ornament and a counterpoise to the weight of its point. It was used like a spear, for thrusting, being held with one or with two hands; and occasion- ally, when the adversary was within reach, it was darted, and still retained in the warrior's grasp, the shaft being allowed to pass through his hand till stop- ped by the blow, or by the fingers suddenly closing on tlie band of metal at the end; a custom still common amontr the modern Nuliians
and Ababdeh. They had another javelin, apparently of wood, tapering to a sharp point, without the usual metal head; and a still lighter kind, armed with a small bronze point, which was frequently four-sided, three-bladed, or broad and nearly flat; and, from the upper end of the shaft being destitute of anj- metal counterpoise, it resem- bled a dart now used by the people of Uarfiir and other African tribes, who, without any scientific knowledge of projectiles and of the curve of a parabola, dexterously strike their enemy with its falling point. Anotlier in- ferior kind of javelin was made of reed, with a metal head; but this can scarcely be considered a military weap- on, nor would it hold a high rank among those employed by the Egyptian chasseur, most of which were of excel- lent workmanship (Wilkin- son, A nc. Egypt, i, 355 sq. ). The Egyptian spearmen were regularly drilled and taught to march with steps measured by sound of trumpet. (See fol- lowing page.) The prophet Jeremiah (ch. xlvi) intimates that the Libyans and Ethiopi- ans formed the strength of the Egyptian heavy-armed infan- try; but the spearmen repre- sented in the accompanying engraving belong to a native corps.