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$269. ON MILITARY DIVISIONS.

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large armies, which are mentioned in the Books of Kings, even when we lay out of the account, the passages, which labour under the suspicion of having been altered by copyists.

$268. OF THE Levy for actual Service.

Whenever there was an immediate prospect of war, a levy of this kind was made by the genealogists, Deut. 20: 5-9. In the time of the kings, there was a head or ruler of the persons, that made the levy, denominated in, who kept an account of the number of the soldiers, but who is nevertheless, to be distinguished from the generalissimo, pio, 2 Chron. 26: 11. comp. 2 Sam. 8: 17. 20:25. 1 Chron. 18: 16.

After the levy was fully made out, the genealogists gave public notice, that the following persons might be excused, from military service, Deut. 20: 5-8.

(1.) Those, who had built a house, and had not yet inhabited it.

(2.) Those who had planted a 2, i. e. an olive or vine garden, and had not as yet tasted the fruit of it; (an exemption, consequently, which extended through the first five years after such planting.)

(3.) Those, who had bargained for a spouse, but had not celebrated the nuptials; also those, who had not as yet lived with their wife for a year.

(4.) The faint-hearted, who would be likely to discourage others, and who, if they had gone into battle, where, in those early times, every thing depended on personal prowess, would only have fallen victims.

$269. RESPEcting the diviSIONS, ETC. THAT WERE INTRODUCED INTO ARMIES.

The division of the army into three bands, as mentioned in Gen. 14: 14, 15. Job 1: 17. Judg. 7: 16, 20. 1 Sam. 11:11. 2 Sam. 18: 2. was probably no other than the division into the centre, and left, and right wing. The commanders of these divisions appear to have been called, Exod. 14: 7. 15: 4. 2 K. 7: 2, 17, 19. 9: 25. 15:25. Ezek. 23: 13, 23.

$269. ON MILITARY DIVISIONS.

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The Hebrews, when they departed from Egypt, marched in military order, ny by by their armies or hosts, Exod. 12: 51; expressions, which, in Exod. 13: 18. are interchanged with the We infer from these expressions, that they followed each other in ranks of fifty deep, and that, at the head of each rank or file of fifty, was the captain of fifty, 1 Sam. 8: 12. 2 K. 1: 9—14. comp. Josh. 1: 14. Judg. 7: 11. The other divisions consisted of an hundred, a thousand, and ten thousand men, each one of which was headed by its appropriate commander, Num. 31: 48. Deut. 1: 15. Judg. 20: 10. 1 Sam. 8: 12. 18: 13. 29: 2. 1 Macc. 3: 55. These divisons ranked in respect to each other, according to their families, and were subject to the authority of the heads of those families, 2 Chron. 25: 5. 26: 12, 13. The centurions, and CHILIARCHS or captains of thousands, were admitted into the councils of war, 1 Chron. 13: 1-3. 1 Sam. 18: 13; and make their appearance, as it would seem, in Joshua 10: 24. and Judges 11: 6, 11. under the name of

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חֲמִשִׁים probably better pointed חֲמִשִׁים word

קצינים

The leader of the whole army was denominated m by ny, the captain of the host. Another officer among those of principal standing was the one called pion, [who is said in the original German Edition to have had the care of the muster-roll, musterrollen-meister] An officer different from both of these was the one called, the numberer of the towers, who appears to have been a sort of engineer, Is. 33: 18. 1 Chron. 18: 15, 16. 27: 33. 1 K. 4: 4. 2 Chron. 17: 14. 26: 11.

The army of David consisted of two hundred and eighty thousand men. Every twenty four thousand of them had a separate commander. The divisions of twenty four thousand performed military duty alternately, viz. a month at a time in succession, 1 Chron. 27: 1–15.

The army in the reign of Jehoshaphat, was divided into five unequal divisions, each of which had its separate commander, 2 Chron. 17: 14-17.

The GENEALOGISTS, [in the English version officers,] according to a law in Deut. 20: 9. had the right of appointing the persons, who were to act as officers in the army, and they, undoubtedly, made it a point, in their selections, to choose those, who are called heads of families. The practice of thus selecting military of

$269. ON MILITARY DIVISIONS.

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ficers ceased under the kings. Some of them were chosen by the king, and in other instances the office became permanent and hereditary in the heads of families.

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Both kings and generals had armour bearers, D. They were chosen from the bravest of the soldiery, and not only bore the arms of their masters, but were employed to give his commands to the subordinate captains, and were present at his side in the hour of peril, 1 Sam. 14: 6. 17: 7. comp. Polybius X. 1.

The infantry, the cavalry, and the chariots of war were so arranged, as to make separate divisions of an army, Exod. 14: 6, 7. The infantry were divided likewise into light-armed troops, 77, and into spearmen, Gen. 49: 19. 1 Sam. 30: 8, 15, 23. 2 Sam. 3:22. 4: 2. 22: 30. Ps. 18: 30. 2 K. 5: 2. Hos. 7: 1. The light-armed infantry were furnished with a sling and javelin, with a bow, arrows, and quiver, and also, at least in latter times, with a buckler. They fought the enemy at a distance. The spearmen, on the contrary, who were armed with spears, swords, and shields, fought hand to hand, 1 Chron. 12: 24, 34. 2 Chron. 14: 8. 17: 17, The light-armed troops were commonly taken from the tribes of Ephraim and Benjamin, 2 Chron. 14: 8. 17: 17. comp. Gen. 49:27. Ps. 78: 9.

The Roman soldiers were divided into legions; each legion was divided into ten cohorts, onɛîqui, each cohort into three bands, and each band into two centuries or hundreds. So that a LEGION consisted of thirty bands or six thousand men, and a cohort of six hundred, though the number was not always the same.

In Palestine, in the days of Josephus, (Jewish War, III. 4. 2.) there were a number of cohorts, some of which consisted of a thousand foot, and others of only six hundred foot, and an hundred and twenty horse. Comp. Matt. 27: 27, 28. Mark 15: 16. and Acts 10: 1. 21: 31. 27: 1. In addition to the cavalry, there were certain light troops in the Palestine cohorts called detonapot, armed with a javelin and spear, Acts 23: 23. It is necessary to distinguish the Roman soldiers, mentioned in the New Testament, not only from the soldiers of Herod Agrippa, (Acts 12: 4.) who kept guard after the Roman manner by quaternions, i. e. four at a time; but also from the bands of Levites, that watched the temple, who had a priest of high standing for their captain, Luke 22: 4, 52. Acts 4: 1. 5: 24. It is no objection at all, as I conceive, to

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this statement, that the word onɛioa, (the Greek for a cohort,) is applied to the Levites here mentioned in John 18: 3, 12.

$270. MILITARY REVIEWS and Inspections.

That the ceremonies of a military review or muster, consisted chiefly in the division of a body of soldiers into different corps according to the kinds of arms, with which they were furnished, and in a minute inspection of those corps, may be inferred from the verb, which is applied to such review or muster, but which, nevertheless, properly means to inspect or to examine narrowly.

The arms, in which the soldiers presented themselves for inspection, were either defensive, 2, 1 Sam. 17: 38. as the buckler, helmet, breastplate, and greaves; or offensive, as the sword and spear, with which they fought the enemy hand to hand, and the sling, arrows, javelins, catapults, and ballistae, with which they fought them at a distance.

Of these, we shall treat separately, and say something also of fortifications, trenches, circumvallation, machines used in war, cavalry, and chariots.

$271. OF SHIElds.

A shield, 7, is first mentioned in Gen. 15: 1. The word frequently occurs afterwards, by a figure of speech, for defence or protection, 2 Sam. 22: 31, 36. Prov. 30: 5. Ps. 47: 9. 144: 2. There is another sort of shield, called ; and a third called This last occurs for the first time in Ps. 91: 4. in connexion with

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The difference of the shields

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and 71 consisted in this; the latter was smaller in size than the former, which was so large as to cover the whole body, 1 K. 10: 16, 17. comp. 2 Chron. 9: 16; hence my is always joined with a spear, but sword and arrows, 1 Chron. 12: 8, 24, 34. 5: 18. 2 Chron. 14: 7. 26: 14. The word b, if we may form an opinion from its etymology, signifies a round shield, or buckler. [Gesenius has collated the corresponding Syriac word, and is of opinion, that the form of this shield cannot satisfactorily be inferred from the et

$271. OF SHIElds.

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ymology of its name.] The form of a fourth sort of shields, called by and, is not well known; but that these words are rightly rendered shields will be sufficiently clear by comparing 2 K. 11: 10. with 2 Chron. 23: 9. 2 Sam. 8: 7. 1 Chron. 18. 7, 8. Shields were manufactured, sometimes of a light sort of wood, sometimes of osiers woven together and covered with bull's hide, and sometimes of a bull's hide merely, twice or three times folded over. The hide was anointed, to render it smooth and slippery, and to prevent its being injured by the wet, 2 Sam. 1: 21, 22. Is. 21:5. Shields made wholly of brass were very uncommon; it was sometimes the case, nevertheless, that they were covered with thin plates of brass, and even of silver and gold, I K. 10: 16, 17. 14: 25-28. 2 Chron. 13: 13—16. There was a boss in the centre of the shield; and the margin, in order to prevent its being injured by the moisture when placed upon the earth, was surrounded by a thin plate of iron. The handle, with which the shield was furnished, was made in various ways. In time of peace, shields were hung up in armouries, 2 Chron. 26: 14, and were sometimes suspended on the walls of towers, as an ornament, 1 K. 10: 16, 17. Cant. 4: 4. Ezek. 27: 10, 11. Shields were borne by soldiers, when they went to war, and were confined to them by a thong, which went round the left arm, and the neck, 1 Chron. 5: 18. 12: 8, 24. 2 Chron. 9: 15. 14: 8.

When about to attack an enemy, they held the shield by the handle in the left hand, and where there was a body of them together, they were able, by merely joining shield to shield, to oppose, as it were, a wall against the assaults of their foes. When about to scale the walls of a city, they placed them one against another over their heads, and in this way formed for themselves an impenetrable defence against missile weapons, 2 Chron. 25: 5. Job 41: 7. The phrases, " to seize the shield, etc." are used metaphorically to denote preparation for war, 2 Chron. 25: 5. Ezek. 38: 4, 5. Jer. 46: 9. 51: 11. To lose a shield in battle was ignominious; to take one from the enemy, on the contrary, was attended with honour, 1 K. 14: 26. 2 Sam. 1: 21. comp. Caryophilus de veterum clypeis.

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