The Snag of The Sword

Chapter One
Sword in the Bible: General Terminology
of Weapons in the Bible

Introduction

Wars and weapons of war have always played a central role in the human history. Nations and kings rose and fell through war in which the quality of their weapons coupled with human efforts played the decisive role in every victory. Until today, a great share of human intellectual vitality is engaged in the study and development of weapons. Apart from the contextual application, weapons cannot be understood and defined. A knife in the butcher’s hand is distinguishable from the dagger of a soldier from its context and relevance. Every weapon has a pragmatic purpose, which makes a weapon different from a tool or an implement. Apart from its use, the presupposed purpose of weapon and implement cannot be understood. The context can be domestic, civilian, political, military, religious, technological, economic or other spheres of human existence. Human conditions such as geographical location, terrain, climate and natural resources play a greater role in the making of weapons.¹

1.1  Weapons in the Old Testament

There are more than hundred occurrences of different types of weapons in the Old Testament² and in many cases, the meaning is not always watermarked. It ← 9 | 10 → is not always easy to clarify the terms because of the fact that sometimes the same term was used for different weapons of size and shape in the land of Israel, Egypt and Assyria. “Taking the Bible as a point of reference, it is apparent that the weapons mentioned there are not unique to the political entities and religious communities which compiled the Bible. Ancient Near Eastern civilizations developed weapons long before the nation of Israel was formed; these were utilized in battles with enemies, never in isolation from other people.”³

Although the indirect use of a weapon⁴ can be proposed in Gen 4:8, however Cain could have used other means to kill his brother Abel. The first use of a weapon is mentioned in Gen 22:10 (ma,caira), where Abraham uses a knife for the offering, which he carried along with other things for the same (Gen 22:6). 1Sam 13:22 mentions that in the war against the Philistines the Israelites were almost bereft of swords or iron weapons. Only Saul and Jonathan among the Israelites had weapons with them. The Philistines were advanced in the use of iron and the Israelites depended on the Philistines for the manufacture and the repair of agricultural instruments at considerable expense.

From the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation, military language fills the pages of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, lending greater resource for further reflection. Eventually, throughout Scripture, weapons play a major role. In the service of God’s cosmological battle against the powers of evil and its narrations, human weapons play an impressive role to which case the battle of David and Goliath provides an impressive example, without minimizing the relevance of other battle narratives in the Bible.⁵ The professional soldiers of ← 10 | 11 → the Philistines are portrayed as armed with the most advanced and destructive weapons available at that time, such as bronze helmet, coat of scale, armour of bronze weighing five thousand shekels, bronze greaves worn on legs, and bronze javelin slung on one’s back. The spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. The shield bearers went ahead of the army of the Philistines (1 Sam 17:5–7).

Young David stood on the other side. The contrast is aggravated by the fact that David was not a professional soldier at all and was totally unarmed in comparison with the soldiers of the Philistines. He was of such a small stature that he could not wear armour and he carried a simple slingshot into the combat! The use of weapons in this story has literal and theological significance in the light of David’s prefight speech in 1 Sam 17:45–47.

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and he will give you into our hand.

The slingshot, which David used, is obviously a less powerful weapon than that of the Philistines. Hence, Israel could not boast in their victory over the Philistines. God’s strength was at work through human agents even in their weakness. The mighty hand of God protects the weak when they accept YHWH as the only God, providing them providence and victory.

When Israel turns against YHWH, He uses the pagan armies to defeat them. The defeat serves as a weapon in the hands of God to bring back those who stray from the Lord. The prophet Jeremiah uses similar language when he refers to Babylon as God’s “hammer and weapon of war” with which He shatters nations (Jer 51:20). The weapons of God are not just restricted to human weapons. He has the whole powers within creation as weapon. Against the Egyptians at the Red Sea, God uses the wind to part the sea for the Israelites to cross over and the same wind to let the army of ← 11 | 12 → the Pharaoh to be devoured by the sea (Ex 14). God hurls hailstones down on the enemy in a battle against a coalition of southern Canaanite kings and allows greater destruction and killing by making the sun and moon to stand still (Josh 10:9–15).

There are different types of weapons mentioned in the Bible. They are:⁶

Though the use of weapons is rampantly referred in the Old Testament we notice on the contrary in the New Testament that weapons are seldom used or even when used, often rather metaphorically than literally. There are a few references to the literal use of a weapon in the New Testament, which forms the central focus of our research. ← 12 | 13 →

1.2  Weapons in the New Testament

In the New Testament, we see a significant transition point in God’s warfare in the narration of the arrest of Jesus. When the mob rushed to arrest Jesus, when Peter (cf. Jn 18:10), one of the Twelve (Mt 26:51; 14:47; Lk 22:50) in the Synoptics, severed the ear of one of the servants, Jesus responds disapprovingly. The cross of Jesus is seen as a weapon to defeat the power of Satan and death, not by killing but by dying (Col 2:13–15).

In the New Testament, the transition from physical warfare to the spiritual takes place, eventually, effecting a significant theological shift. Eph 6:10–20 is the most evident example of this transition in the New Testament.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take the whole armour of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the Gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

Other comparable New Testament passages can be found in Rom 13:12; 2 Cor 6:7; 10:4 and 1 Thess 5:8. Weapons have a significant role in the concluding scenes in the history of human redemption in the Bible. The final judgment against human and spiritual forces of evil is described as a great battle. In the Book of Revelation, the most extensive description of the final battle is found. Weapons are tools of God and His servants (cf. Rev 19:11–16).⁷ ← 13 | 14 →

1.3  Sword (ma,caira)

Having mentioned the different weapons mentioned both in the Old and the New Testaments, we study in detail the “Sword,” which is one of the most important words in our exegetical study of the pericope. In order to understand the teaching of Jesus in Lk 22:35–38, a detailed consideration of “sword” is imperative. Therefore, we concentrate, leaving aside other weapons named in the Bible, on the “sword.”

From the time of Homer, ‘sword’ seemed to be related in meaning to ma,comai, which meant a knife that would have been used at sacrifice, slaughter or even for cooking. It came to mean later times as a means of weapon “small sword,” which is different from r`omfai,a which meant “dagger”. Nevertheless, the meaning changes and to a certain extent, interchangeably meaning the same in later periods. In the world of Judah and Israel ma,caira and r`omfai,a were different.⁸ ma,caira has a warlike and terrible nature in Jewish history.

The term r`omfai,a was normally used to refer to a large sword used both for cutting and piercing, while ma,caira was used for a short sword or a dagger (the somewhat arbitrary rule of thumb for archaeologists is that the latter is sixteen inches or shorter. The Roman legionary carried a gladius, a straight sword. The Hebrew term br,x, is used in the OT for both the two-edged and long sword (Josh 6:21).⁹

The common Hebrew word for “sword” is br,x,. In the Early Bronze Age, sword was almost like a dagger and was short and straight. The word qr'B' literally means “a flashing,” hence “lightning.” In Job 20:25 it is rendered as “the glittering sword,” in KJV. Since v. 24 refers to the bronze arrow striking one through it is rightly rendered in RSV as “glittering point” of the arrow. hr’kem. in Gen 49:5 is certainly a hapax legomenon but RSV renders it as “sword,” although this can be debated. xc;r, in Ps 42:10 is incorrectly rendered in KJV as “sword” while it has the root meaning “to murder or to kill.” It could probably mean a fatal wound inflicted by the enemy or even a fatal disease. xl;v, which ← 14 | 15 → could mean a missile, or a javelin or dart is translated as “sword” in Job 33:18 and 36:12 in RSV. tAxtiP. In Ps 55:21 is translated as a drawn sword or dagger. ht'P' means “to open.”

In the Middle Bronze Age, the sword became broader and longer. Half of the use of sword occurs in the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel to announce God’s imminent judgment on Israel or Judah or the nations (cf. Jer 25:27, 31, Ez 23:25, 47). Sword may also connote “guarding” (Gen 3:24) or be used figuratively to describe violence generally (Gen 27:40; 49:5). In the Psalms ‘Sword’ is used twenty times, always as part of outcries to God to save.¹⁰ The biblical use of military imagery for God is often considered metaphorical and human use of the sword is descriptive. Hence, Scripture’s violent imagery does not endorse human use of the sword or violence.¹¹

The sword is one of the most commonly mentioned weapons in the Bible. r`omfai,a and ma,caira are used for sword both in the Old and the New Testament, however, ma,caira is frequently used. ma,caira is also used by Homer meaning knife used in slaughter or in offering. It also would mean the knife of a hunter. Later, as a weapon, it meant a small sword; later it meant a large sword used synonymously with r`omfai,a. ma,caira has very rarely the meaning of a knife but often a weapon, or sword. br,h, is seldom distinguishable from ma,caira¹² or r`omfai,a. r`omfai,a can be traced back to the Thracians.¹³ ← 15 | 16 →

The most ethically significant sword texts in the OT are Is 2:1–4 (ma,caira); Mic 4:1–5 (r`omfai,a) and Joel 4:10 (r`omfai,a) (Heb 4:12 ma,caira). Isaiah’s and Micah’s call to “beat swords into plowshares” echoes numerous psalms in which YHWH destroys the weapons of war (Ps 20:7; 33:16; 44:3–6; 46:6–9; 76:3; 147:10). The prophetic oracles permeate similar emphasis, anticipating the messianic reign of peace (Is 9:4–7; 11:4; 31:1–3; Hos 14:3; Zech 9:9–10). While faith reflection upon Israel’s conquest magnifies YHWH’s miraculous deliverance, it depreciates the emphasis on sword (Ex 14:14; Josh 24:12; Judg 7; 1 Sam 17). These are eschatological prophecies.

The sword was the most important weapon for warfare in the Ancient Near East and in the Greco-Roman world. “Near Eastern swords were basically of two types: the straight, thrusting sword, and the bent (or sickle) sword.”¹⁴ “Archaeologists arbitrarily distinguish swords from daggers by length, forty centimeters being the point of division.”¹⁵ A straight sword had usually a triangular blade out of bronze or iron, usually with a tang extending beyond the shoulder, which was inserted into a shaft made of wood, bone, or ivory. The Egyptian sword was usually under a meter in length. It was a pointed and double-edged. It could be used for slashing or thrusting. As early as 1800 B.C., the sickle sword has been found. It was found mainly in the Near East and gradually entered Egypt from Syria. It was a favourite weapon of the Pharaohs. ← 16 | 17 →