Such were the instruments and the institutions of war which the Hebrew people, as well as the nations which surrounded them, appear to have adopted; but in the conquest of the Promised Land, as regarded their ene- mies, the laws of war prescribed to them were, for pur- poses which we cannot now fully appreciate, more se- vere than in other cases. All the nations of anticpiity were cruel to the vanquished, perhaps the Romans most
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of all: even the Egyptians, in the sculptures of their monuments, attest the same disposition— the males be- ing very fjcnerally slauiihtered, and tlie women and chil- dren sold lor slaves. With rej^ard to the spoil, except in the special case just referred to, the Hebrews divided it- in part with those who remained at home, and with the Levites, and a portion was set apart as an oblation to the Lord (Numb, xxxi, 50). This right of spoil and prey was a necessary consequence of military institu- tions where the army received no pay. ^^'^, shcildl, that is, the armor, clothes, money, and furniture, and m'pb^, malkdach, prey, consisting of the captives and live-stock, were collected into one general mass, and then distributed as stated above; or, in the time of the kings, were shared in great part by ihe crown, which then, no doubt, took care to subsist tiie army and grant military rewards. See An .my.
III. Military P)-eparnlions, Operations, and Results. — (In this section we follow Smith's Diet, of the Bible.) Before entering on a war of aggression, the Hebrews sought for the divine sanction by consulting either the Urim and Thuniniim (Judg. i, 1; xx, 27, 28 ; 1 Sam. xiv, 37; xxiii, 2; xxviii, (>: xxx, 8) or some acknowl- edged prophet (1 Kings xxii, 6 ; 2 Chron. xviii, 5). The heathens betook themselves to various kinds of divina- tion for the same purpose (Ezek. xxi, 21). Divine aid was further sought in actual warfare by bringing into the field the ark of the covenant, which was the sym- bol of Jehovah himself (1 Sam. iv, 4-18; xiv, 18); a custom which prevailed certainly down to David's time (2 Sam. xi, 11; comp. Psa. Ixviii, 1, 24). During the wanderings in the wilderness the signal for warlike prep- arations was sounded by priests with the silver trump- ets of the sanctuary (Numb, x, 9; xxxi, 6). Formal proclamations of war were not interchanged between the belligerents; but occasionally messages either dep- recatory or defiant were sent, as in the cases of Je|ih- thah and tlie Ammonites (Judg. xi, 12-27), Ben-hadad and Ahab (1 Kings xx, 2), and again Amaziah and Je- hoash (2 Kings xiv, 8). Before entering the enemy's district, spies were sent to ascertain the character of the country and the preparations of its inhabitants for re- sistance (Numb, xiii, 17; Josh, ii, 1; Judg. vii, 10; 1 Sam. xxvi, 4). When an engagement was imminent, a sacrifice was offered (1 Sam. vii, 9; xiii, 9), and an in- spiriting address delivered either by tlie commander (2 Chron. XX, 20) or by a priest (Dent, xx, 2). Then fol- lowed the battle-signal, sounded forth from the silver trumpets as already described, to which the host respond- ed bj' shouting the war-cry (1 Sam. xvii, 52; Isa. xiii, 13; Jer. 1, 42; Ezek. xxi, 22; Amos i, 14). The com- bat often assumed the fcirm of a number of liand-to-hand contests, depending on tlie (jualities of the individual soldier rather than on the disposition of masses. Hence the high value attached to fleetness of foot and strength of arm (2 Sam. i, 23; ii, 18; 1 Chron. xii, 8). At the same lime, various strategic devices were practiced, such as the ambuscade (Josh, viii, 2, 12; Judg. xx, 36), sur- prise (vii, 16), or circumvention (2 Sam. v, 23). An- other mode of settling the dispute was by the selec- tion of champions (1 Sam. xvii; 2 Sam. ii, 14), who were spurred on to exertion by the offer of high reward (1 Sam. xvii, 25; xviii, 25; 2 Sam. xviii, 11 ; 1 Chron. xi, 6), The contest having been decided, the conquer- ors were recalled from the pursuit by the sound of a trumpet (2 Sam. ii, 28; xviii, 16; xx, 22).
The siege of a town or fortress was conducted in the following manner: A Hue of circumvallation (^lU'0,lit. an "enclosing" or " besieging," and hence applied to the wall by which the siege was effected) was drawn round the place ( Ezek. iv, 2 ; ^lic. v, 1), constructed out of the trees found in the neighborhood (Dent, xx, 20), togeth- er with earth and any other materials at hand. This line not only cut off the besieged from the surrounding country, but also served as a base of operations for the besiegers. The next step was to throw out from this