Page images
PDF
EPUB

which he wears on state occasions being, together, deemed worth a million sterling. This use of the bracelet was not, in ancient times, unknown in our own country. Thus the emblems of supreme authority among the British kings were golden bands, worn around the neck, arms, and knees (Turner's Anglo Saxons, i. 383). One such ornament, set with jewels, and supposed to have belonged to Caractacus, was found at the Herefordshire Beacon

PERSIAN ARMLETS.

(Nash's Worcestershire, ii. 142). In the early Saxon era,. such ornaments, although become more common, were confined to persons of high distinction, and if of gold, were considered proper presents for the sovereign.

[ocr errors]

18. He bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow.'-The words 'the use of' not being in the original, some commentators think that 'the Bow' was the title of the ensuing elegy, and that this is what was commanded to be taught. This is possible; but the common reading seems more than equally so, as the experience of the efficacy of this weapon, in the recent engagement with the Philistines (1 Sam. xxxi. 3), was well calculated to direct David's attention to the subject, and induce him to desire that more attention should be paid to that arm for warlike purposes. David's own stay among the Philistines was also calculated to operate for the same result. The bow was indeed well known to the Hebrews long before this time; but it does not appear that it was used to any considerable extent as a military weapon. We read of no corps of archers in the Hebrew army till after David's time; but very large bodies of archers are subsequently mentioned. They appear to have been chiefly Benjamites, who seem, throughout their history, to have been remarkable for their partiality to missile weapons. The archers of Ephraim are, however, mentioned once (comp. 1 Chron. viii. 40; 2 Chron. xiv. 8, and xvii. 17; Ps. lxxviii. 9). The frequent reference to archery in the Psalms would alone suffice to shew the interest which David took in the subject. The Bible itself bears witness to the extreme antiquity of the bow. Ishmael, when banished from his father's tents, 'dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer;' and his nephew, Esau, employed the bow in his hunting (Gen. xxi. 20, and xxvii. 3). Very probably the invention of the bow originated in the desire to obtain a weapon for the distant attack of animals, whose strength or swiftness rendered a close assault difficult or dangerous. Such a weapon

[graphic]

TEACHING THE USE OF THE BOw.-From a Sculpture at Thebes.

would, of course, soon come to be employed against man; and to this we find allusions towards the end of Genesis, where, speaking of Joseph, the dying Israel says: "The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him. But his (own) bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong' (Gen. xlix. 23, 24). Here the strength of the arms is properly alluded to, a strong arm being necessary to bend a strong bow. The aged patriarch had, on a former occasion, told Joseph: Behold I have given thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow' (xlviii. 22).

The most ancient offensive or defensive arms seem also

to be those which are the most universal; because that simplicity of construction which leads to early invention, leads also to independent discovery among different and unconnected nations. This applies to the bow, which we find to have been very extensively diffused. It exists among nations the most brutal, or ignorant, or savage, and even in the islands which lie most remote from any continent; although, indeed, there have been some nations among whom no trace of its existence can be discovered.

The ancient bows were for the most part of wood, but we sometimes read of horn being employed. Those of wood were tipped with horn, and those of horn with metal -often gold or silver. Indeed the bow was sometimes

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN BOWS.

wholly of metal, as steel or brass; and such are mentioned in Scripture (Job xx. 24; Ps. xviii. 34). These of course were, from their stiffness, bent with great difficulty; whence David, in the last-cited text, properly mentions it as a proof of the extraordinary strength with which the Lord had endowed him, that a bow of steel was broken by his arms. Thus, on account of the force required to bend some ancient bows, whether of wood, metal, or horn, it was often proposed as a trial of strength to bend some particular bow; and we find ancient heroes glorying in the possession and use of a bow which no one but themselves could bend. Such was the famous bow of Ulysses. It had remained among his treasures during the twenty years of his absence from Ithaca. In the end, it was agreed that the hand of his supposed widow should be given to him who, out of the numerous suitors, should be able to bend this bow and to send the arrow through twelve rings. The bow was of horn, and the string had remained unhitched at one end, as usual when the weapon was not in use. Not one of the suitors was able even so far to bend the bow as to hitch on the string at the loosened end, although they tried to relax the rigidity of the bow by chafing it with suet before the fire. At last Ulysses himself, who was present in the disguise of a beggar, takes it, and the description of the manner in which he deals with it is highly interesting.

'He now, with busy look and curious touch,
Explored the bow, now viewing it remote,
Now near at hand, aware that, haply, worms
Had, in his absence, drilled the solid horn.'
At last-

· When the wary hero, wise,
Had made his hand familiar with the bow,
Poising it and examining-at once-
As when in harp and song adept, a bard
Strings a new lyre, extending first the chords,

He knits them to the frame at either end,

With promptest ease! with such Ulysses strung
His own huge bow, and with his right hand thrill'd

The nerve, which in its quick vibration sang

As with a swallow's voice.

He seized a shaft, which at the table's side
Lay ready drawn.

He lodged the reed

Full in the bowstring, drew the parted head
Home to his breast, and aiming as he sat,

At once dismiss'd it. Through the num'rous rings
Swift flew the gliding steel, and, issuing, sped
Beyond them.'

Odyss, xxi. COWPER.

It is observable that in the above extract, and in the other descriptions of Homer, the end of the arrow is drawn home to the breast, rather than to the right ear, as in Egyptian and Persian figures, and in the more modern practice both of the east and west. The length of the ancient bows seems to have been very various, but so far as we can collect, those intended for efficient use, and not merely for teaching archery, were seldom less than four feet long, or more than six. Somewhat above five feet may have been the average proportion of its length. The bow of the Egyptians, who

paid great attention to archery, was usually of wood, and about five feet in length. It appears from the sculptures that, in stringing it, the Egyptians fixed the lower point of the bow in the ground, and, either standing or sitting, pressed the knee against the inner side of the bow, while they bent it with one hand, and with the other passed the string into the notch at the upper extremity. While shooting they frequently wore a guard on the left arm, to prevent its receiving an injury from the string; and this was not only fastened round the wrist, but was secured by a thong tied above the elbow. Sometimes a groove was fixed upon the fore knuckle, in which the arrow rested and ran when discharged; and the huntsman, whose bow appears to have been less powerful than those used in war, occasionally held spare arrows in his right hand while he pulled the string.-See Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ch. iii.

The bowstring was, among the ancients, formed of leathern thongs, horsehair, catgut, or string. The arrows were usually either of reed or light wood, headed with bone, ivory, sharp stone, brass, or iron. They were sometimes simply pointed, but oftener barbed, or leaf-shaped, like a spear-head. Arrow heads of bronze have been found in Egypt, triangular, in the shape of an elongated cone, with a barb at each angle. The horrible practice of poisoning the points of arrows, which now exists among many barbarous nations, is very ancient. Ulysses is represented in Homer as having made a voyage to the island of Ephyre

[ocr errors][merged small][graphic][merged small]

of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.' But more probably the allusion is to another use of arrows,--which was, to fasten combustibles to them, and to send fire against the enemy or among the dwellings of a besieged place, or the works and engines of a besieging army. There seems a most distinct reference to poisoned arrows in Job vi. 4; and to the custom of shooting combustibles in Ps. cxx. 4; and perhaps the latter reference may be detected in the figurative language which compares lightning to the arrows of the Almighty (Zech. ix. 14). The pestilence, and other sudden, devastating, and unavoidable calamities, are also described as the arrows of God. Arrows were usually

feathered, generally with the wing feather of a goose or other large bird; hence, and with reference to their swiftness, there was a two-fold propriety in the poetical epithet of winged,' so often applied to these destructive missiles.

The arrows were kept in a quiver, which was generally either round or obeliscal, and wider at the open than at the closed end, as the feathered ends of the arrows, which were uppermost, required more room than the points. In action, the Egyptian soldier usually bore the quiver in an almost horizontal position at his back, kept in that position by a weight which counterpoised its heavier end, and drew out the arrows from beneath his arm.

Many in

PRINCES WITH BOW AND QUIVER.-From á Bas-relief at Thebes,

The

stances, however, occur, as in the above engraving, in which the quiver is so placed at the back as to project over the top of the shoulder; but this appears to have been only during a march, or at a time when the arrows were not required. The quiver seems to have been closed by a lid or an over-lapping flap of skin, when no immediate occasion for the arrows was contemplated. bow also had its case to preserve its elasticity, and protect it from sun and damp. It was usually of leather or cloth, and was commonly suspended from the girdle, as represented in the opposite figure from the ancient sculptures of Persepolis. Among the Egyptians, bow-cases, more corresponding to the shape of the bow itself, were attached to the war-chariots, and were often very richly ornamented: but the only thing of the kind that appears to have been in use among the infantry, was a sheath of pliable substance, probably of leather, which covered only the centre, leaving the extremities exposed. As this only appears when the soldiers hold the bow in their hands during a march, it seems to have been chiefly intended to protect the bowstring from the perspiration of the hand. Taking it from the case, in preparation for action, is what Habakkuk alludes to in-Thy bow was made quite naked' (ch. iii. 9). The bow when out of its case was usually carried on the left arm or shoulder; but in a sculpture at Tackt-i-Bostan, a king is represented with his bow about his neck, in such a fashion as might have suggested the Turkish use of the bowstring in strangling state offenders.

Many of the above particulars are strikingly illustrated in the account which Homer gives of the archery of Pandarus; and we cite it with the more satisfaction, on ac

count of the supposed proximity of the date of the Trojan war to the times now under consideration:

ANCIENT PERSIAN BOW-CASE.

'He complied,
And at the word uncas'd his polish'd bow,
The horn of a salacious mountain-goat.
Full sixteen palms his measur'd length of horn
Had spir'd aloft; the bow-smith, root to root,
Adapted each, shav'd smooth the wrinkled rind,
Then polish'd all, and tipp'd the points with gold.
That bow he strung, and, stooping to his task,
Prepared it well for use, behind a fence
Of Lycian shields, lest, seeing him, the Greeks
Should fly to smite him ere the wound were giv'n.
His quiver's lid displaced, he chose a dart
Unflown, full-fledg'd, and barb'd with bitterest woe;
He lodg'd it on the cord, but ere it flew,
To Lycian Phoebus vow'd, at his return
To Zelia's walls, in honour of his aid,

A hecatomb, all firstlings of the flock.

Then, seizing fast the reed, he drew the barb
Home to his bow, the bowstring to his breast.
And when the horn was rounded to an arch,
He twanged it. Whizz'd the bowstring, and the reed
With fell impatience started to the goal.'

Iliad, iv. 110-133. CowPER.

The bow was however by no means generally used in the Trojan war; though it was preferred by some individual chiefs. The spear seems to have been considered the more honourable weapon in battle. It would seem, however, that the use of the bow was cultivated as an accomplishment, useful in the chase and in occasional combats. Achilles and Ulysses we know to have been able archers, though we do not find them use the bow on the field of battle. In later times we find bodies of archers in the armies of Greece, Persia, and Rome, as well as in that of the Hebrews. The Cretans and Persians were the most famous archers of antiquity. The latter are spoken of in Scripture (Isa. xiii. 18; Jer. xlix. 35; 1. 9, 14, 29, 42).

[ocr errors]

19. The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places.' -Jonathan is here intended, as appears from v. 25: O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places.' With Jonathan the poem begins, and with Jonathan, that tender and magnanimous friend, it ends. The word ('tzebi)

rendered 'beauty' in the present text, and elsewhere 'glory' and 'honour,' means also the antelope or gazelle, which is regarded in Western Asia as the symbol of agility and beauty. It is probable that the animal comparison should be preferred, since the figure is then more sustained in the second clause. Under this view Geddes translates it: 'O antelope of Israel! pierced on thine own mountains!' and the learned translator understands that the last clause refers to the habit among animals of the deer kind, when closely pursued, of running at last to their usual haunt, and there awaiting the fatal stroke. We see the allusion repeated in v. 25, and still with ap plication to Jonathan. There may also be a reference in this comparison to the swiftness for which Jonathan was celebrated, for in v. 23 Saul and his son are described as being swifter than eagles.' We must be content with this single observation, without attempting to analyze this impressive elegy, or to expatiate on the several circumstances of beauty and true pathos which it offers.

[ocr errors]

26. Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women,' or, as the word is frequently rendered, wives.'— Dr. Chandler, in his Life of David, remarks: This figure has been censured as not well chosen, and insinuations dropped highly to the dishonour of the two noble friends. But the expression gives no countenance to it. It appears to me that there was somewhat in the conduct of Michal, David's wife, in too hastily consenting to be married to Phalti, that gave occasion to this comparison. It is certain from her behaviour to him, at the bringing the ark to Jerusalem, that she had not that high esteem and affection for him that she ought to have had, as she took this opportunity so bitterly to reproach him. It is certain also that her marriage to Phalti must have been preceded by a divorce from David, otherwise her second marriage would have been real adultery: and her consenting to a divorce, though by her father's order, shewed great want of affection and fidelity to David. On this supposition no comparison could be better chosen, nor more tenderly and delicately expressed. The brother's love to him, as a friend, was more generous and constant than the sister's, though a wife. The compliment to Jonathan was very high, and just; and the concealing the sister's name was truly polite.'

E

CHAPTER II..

1 David, by God's direction, with his company goeth up to Hebron, where he is made king of Judah. 5 He commendeth them of Jabesh-gilead for their kindness to Saul. 8 Abner maketh Ish-bosheth king of Israel. 12 A mortal skirmish between twelve of Abner's and twelve of Joab's men. 18 Asahel is slain. 25 At Abner's motion Joab soundeth a retreat. 32 Asahel's burial.

AND it came to pass after this, that David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the LORD said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron.

2 So David went up thither, and his two wives also, Abinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail Nabal's wife the Carmelite.

3 And his men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his houshold and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.

[blocks in formation]

4 'And the men of Judah came; and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, That the men of Jabesh-gilead were they that buried Saul.

5 ¶ And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said unto them, Blessed be ye of the LORD, that ye have shewed this kindness unto your lord, even unto Saul, and have buried him.

6 And now the LORD shew kindness and truth unto you and I also will requite you this kindness, because ye have done this thing.

7 Therefore now let your hands be strengthened, and be ened, and "be ye valiant: for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah have anointed me king over them.

8 But Abner the son of Ner, captain of 'Saul's host, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;

[blocks in formation]

9 And made him king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel.

10 Ish-bosheth Saul's son was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David.

11 And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

12 ¶ And Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.

13 And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out, and met 'together by the pool of Gibeon: and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool.

14 And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arise, and play before us. And Joab said, Let them arise.

15 Then there arose and went over by number twelve of Benjamin, which pertained to Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.

16 And they caught every one his fellow by the head, and thrust his sword in his fellow's side; so they fell down together: wherefore that place was called 'Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon.

17 And there was a very sore battle that day; and Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David.

18 T And there were three sons of Zeruiah there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel; and Asahel was as light of foot 'as a wild roe.

19 And Asahel pursued after Abner; and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner.

20 Then Abner looked behind him, and said, Art thou Asahel? And he answered, I

am.

21 And Abner said to him, Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his "armour. But Åsahel would not turn aside from following of him.

22 And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn

thee aside from following me: wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?

23 Howbeit he refused to turn aside : wherefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there, and died in the same place and it came to pass, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still.

24 Joab also and Abishai pursued after Abner and the sun went down when they were come to the hill of Ammah, that lieth. before Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon.

25 And the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together after Abner, and became one troop, and stood on the top of an hill.

26 Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be then, ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren?

27 And Joab said, As God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother.

13

28 So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither fought they any more.

29 And Abner and his men walked all that night through the plain, and passed over Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and they came to Mahanaim.

30 And Joab returned from following Abner: and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of David's servants nineteen men and Asahel.

31 But the servants of David had smitten of Benjamin, and of Abner's men, so that three hundred and threescore men died.

32 And they took up Asahel, and buried him in the sepulchre of his father, which was in Beth-lehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at break of day.

7 That is, the field of strong men.

5 Heb. number of days. Heb. them together. Heb. as one of the roes that is in the field. 10 Heb. from after Abner.

Verse 9. Made him king over Gilead,' etc.-From this it appears that no tribe but Judah took part in the nomination of David. On the contrary all the other tribes elected Saul's only surviving son, Eshbaal, as he was originally named, but nicknamed Ishbosheth (a man of shame), from his weakness and incapacity, which, it would appear, saved

8 Heb. of his feet.

11 Or, spoil. 12 Heb. from the morning. 18 Or, gone away.

his life, by precluding him from being present at the battle in which his brothers perished. This measure was probably promoted by that radical jealousy between the tribes of Judah and Ephraim which prevented the latter (which took the lead among the other tribes) from concurring in the appointing a king of the rival tribe, or indeed from

« PreviousContinue »