yet inhabited it; (2) those who had planted an olive or vineyard and had not tasted the fruit, which gave leave of absence for live years; (3) those who were betrothed, or had been married less than one year; (4) the faint- hearted, whicdi may mean the constitutionally delicate, rather than the cowardly, as that quality is seldom own- ed without |)ersonal inconvenience, and where it is no longer a shame the rule woidd destroy every levy.
The levies were drilled to march in ranks (1 Chron. xii, 38), ami in column by fives (C'^TT'^fl, r/iaiiiDn/iim) abreast (Exod. xiii, 18); hence it may be inferred that they borrowed from the Egyptian system a decimal for- mation— two fifties in each divisi(ui making a solid sipiare, equal in rank and file : for twice ten in rank and five in file being told olf by right-hand and left-hand files, a command to the left-hand files to face about and march six or eight paces to the rear, then to front and lake one step to the right, woulil make the hundred a solid square, with only the additional distance between the right-hand or immoved files necessary to use the shield and spear without hindrance; while the depth being again reduced to five files, they could face to the right or left and march firmly in column, passing every kind of ground without breaking or lengthening their order. The peijtastichous system, or arrangement of five men in depth, was effected by the simple evolution just mentioned, to its own condensation to double num- ber, and at the same time afforded the necessary space between the standing files of spearmen, or light infantry, for handling their weapons without obstacle — always a primary object in every ancient system of training. Between the fifth and sixth rank there was thus space made for the ensign-bearer, who, as he then stood ])re- cisely between the companies of fifty each, had probably some additional width to handle his ensign, being sta- tioned between the four middlemost men in the square — having five men in file and five in rank before, behind, and on each side. There he was the regulator of their order, coming to the front in advancing, and to the rear in retreating; and this mav^ explain why <tW\;oc, a file, and the Hebrew def/el and ties, an ensign, are in many cases regarded as synonymous. Although neither the Egyptian depth of formation, if we may judge from their pictured monuments, nor the Greek phalanx, nor the Roman legion, was constructed upon decimal princi- ples, yet the former was no doubt so in its origin, since it was the model of the Israelites; and the tetrastichal system, which afterwards succeeded, shows that it was not the original, since even in the phalanx, where the files formed, broke, and doubled by fours, eights, six- teens, and thirty-twos, there remained names of sections which indicated the first -mentioned division. Such was the pentacontarchy, denoting some arrangement of fifty, while in reality it consisted of sixty-four; and the decany and decurio, though derived from a decimal order, signified an entire file or a compact line in the phalanx, without reference to number.
With centuries thus arranged in masses, both mova- ble and solid, a front of battle could be formed in simple decimal progression to a thousand, 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 coidd ph* their missiles from the rear, which would be more cer- tain 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 divi- sions were commanded, it seems, by D*'3'^ltp, ketsinim, officers in charge of one thousand, who, in the first ages, 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, t<2;jri hv "I'O, sar al Iw-tsuha — such as Joab, Abiicr, Benaiab, etc. — was either the judge, or, under the
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judge or king, the supreme head of the army, and one of the highest officers in the State. He as well as the king had an armor-bearer, whose duty was not only to bear his shield, spear, or bow, and to carry orders, but, above all, to be at the chief's side in the hour of battle (Judg. ix, 54; 1 Sara, xiv, G; xxxi, 4, 5). Besides the royal guards there was, as early, at least, as the time of David, a select troop of heroes, who appear to have had au institution very similar in principle to our modern orders of knighthood, and may have originated the dis- tinctive marks already pointed out as used by the Ro- mans ; for it seems they strewed their hair with gold- dust. See Armor.
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 com- manded by a chief captain or commander of a corps, or third part (Tl'^iVj. sJialisfi), as was also the case with other armies of the East; these constituted the centre and right anil left wing, and during a march formed the van, centre, and rear. The great camp in the wilder- ness was composed of four of these triple bodies disposed in a quadrangle, each front having a great central stand- ard for its leading tribe, and another tribal one in each wing.