the chariot warriors especially constituting the aristocracy of the army, and bearing a great name for valour. Like the equipment of the Spartan hoplites, that of the leaders of the heavy-armed troops was designed to strike terror into the hearts of their foes. A round helmet of copper, a coat of scaled mail of the same metal, and brazen greaves on the legs, defended the person. At their back hung a copper-headed spear, a sword depended at their side, and they bore in their hand a long irontipped lance. Each had his own armour-bearer, who always attended him, carrying a huge shield to cover the whole body of his master. The chariot fighters, also, were armed with a similar glittering panoply, and went into battle with a chariot driver and armour-bearer at their side.1 The light-armed troops were largely archers; the Cretans in their ranks distinguishing themselves so specially with the bow, that a band of them, enlisted by David as his body guard, are called indifferently Cretans or bowmen. The army, as a whole, was divided into hundreds and thousands; the entire force of each "lord " of a Philistine district constituting a "host."4 To fortify their camps, place garrisons and military posts, and divide their soldiery into flying columns, to overrun and devastate the territory of their enemies, was familiar to them. But the nation did not confine itself to service in its own armies, like the freelances of the middle ages, its sons were ready to hire themselves out to fight under the standard of any prince. 1 Chron. xviii. 17. 2 Sam. viii. 18; xv. 18; xx. 7, 20. 1 Kings 1. 38, 44. On the subject of the Philistines, see Hitzig, Urge. schichte, passim. Kneucker, in Bib. Lex., vol. iv. pp. 541-559 Richm. Winer. Herzog, etc. The first step taken by Saul towards the war of libera tion was the enrolment of 3,000 men, the nucleus of a standing army. Two thousand of these remained with himself in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and 1,000 with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin, a few miles off, the rest of the people having been sent home. Hostilities began by Jonathan overpowering the Philistine tribute collector,' at Geba, with the military post under GILGAL. North-west view over the plain of Jericho. Lieut. Conder, R.E. his command-an act of daring soon known far and near in the Philistine country. The signal thus given, Saul forthwith formally proclaimed an insurrection, sound. ing the war horns through all Israel, and summoning & general muster of the people at Gilgal. But the Philistines 11 Sam. xiii. 4, for "garrison," read as in text. Ewald and Graetz. 1 Sam. xiii. 3. Sept. 3 on their side were not inactive. Three thousand chariots,1 6000 cavalry, and a great force of infantry toiled up from the lowlands and crowded the passes of Benjamin. The excitement amongst the Hebrews was terrible. The braver hearts hastened to the rendezvous at Gilgal, the town farthest from the dreaded foe. The less resolute fled beyond the Jordan, or hid in the caves of the limestone hills around, or in their clefts, or in grain pits, or in dry cisterns. Meanwhile, Samuel had directed Saul to wait for him seven days at Gilgal; for though nominally king, it was a condition of his rule that he acted only as the prophet instructed him.* In the interval, the company of prophets from Jericho, with their hymns and psalms, sung to the harp and other instruments, may well have visited the camp, to rouse their brethren to courage and devotion in the great struggle before them. A part of the Philistine army of invasion had now 1 Peshito Version. The Hebrew number, 30,000, seems an error of copyists. "Perhaps the number ought to be 1000." Maclear. * Subterranean retreats. Graetz. * 1 Sam. xiii. 6. Furrer (Palästina, p. 103) speaks of the number of subterranean corn-magazines in the country, dug out to hide the grain from enemies. These may have been the "pits." 1 Sam. vii. 15; x. 8; xiii. 3, 4. 66 The instruments mentioned in 1 Sam. x. 5, as played by the prophets are: 1. the Nebel-translated in our version "psaltery;" in Amos v. 23, viol;" in the Prayer Book version of the Psalms, "lute." It was in fact a guitar with from six to twelve strings. 2. The Toph, or "tabret," was a tambourine, with pieces of metal in the hoop round it to make a jingling sound. 7. The Chalil, or "pipe," a single or double flageolet of simple construction, often played to the accompaniment of the tambourine. 4. The Kinnor, or "harp," needs no explanation. There were small harps, played while the performer was walking or in motion; others, larger, were played as with us. The smaller harp bad, apparently, ten strings. Ps. xxxiii. 2. Jos., Ant., VII. xii. 3 VOL. III. H reached Michmash, the present Mukhmas, the farthest point of their occupation to the east; a spot about seven miles north of Jebus, now Jerusalem, on the northern edge of the great Wady Suweinit-"the valley of the little thorn, or acacia "-which forms the main line of communication between the sea-coast plain and the Jordan valley. It runs through the very centre of the territory of Benjamin. Opposite the village of Michmash on its southern side lay Geba; Bethel rose about four miles to the north, over successive hills; and Ramah and Gibeah were on the south, at short distances behind Geba. The part at which the Philistines had established themselves, consisted, Josephus tells us, of a precipice with three tops, ending in a long sharp tongue, and protected by surrounding cliffs believed to be unscalable.1 Fortunately, the spot may be easily identified. Exactly such a natural stronghold exists immediately east of the present village of Mukhmas, and is still called the "fortress" by the peasantry. It is a ridge forming three knolls rising above a perpendicular crag, and ending in a narrow tongue to the east, with cliffs below. Opposite this fastness, on the south, there is a crag of equal height, seemingly too steep to climb; the two forming "a sharp rock on one side, and a sharp rock on the other." Of these the one on the south is called Seneh"the acacia"-in the Bible, and, as has been said, this naine is still given in a modern form to the whole valley. That on the north is called Bozeh, or "shining," a name vei y apt, as its chalky strata lie almost all day in the full light of an Eastern sun, while the other side of the ravine is as constantly in the shade. The whole country round has a most forbidding aspect. Huge grey rocks completely 1 Jos., Bell. Jud., V. ii. 1; Ant., VI. vi. 2 hide every patch of soil, and the poor huts of the village, VALLEY OF MICHMASH, LOOKING EAST. with the ruins that encompass them, can hardly be distinguished from the rocks themselves.1 Porter, Handbook, pp. 215, 216. Grove, in Dict. of Bible, vol. ip 351. |