army. Although there was no standing army in ancient Israel until the monarchy, Abraham rallied 318 followers to rescue his relatives who had been captured by a coalition of kings (Gen. 14). Loosely bonded troops drawn from villages or families could also cooperate against a common foe (Exod. 17:8–13).
ARMY. The Israelites were not intended by God to be a warlike people with a large standing army. Because of their strategic location at the crossroads of three continents, however, they found it necessary to make adequate preparations for their defense against hostile attacks. In the OT Heb. words often
FORCES. A military term meaning an army or military force, resources, powers, or fortress. Examples of use meaning a military force are found in Jer 40:7, 13; 41:11, 13, 16; as resources, in Isa 60:5, 11 (ASV, RSV, “wealth”); and as fortifications, in Dan 11:38 (ASV, RSV, “fortresses”).
TROOP. A collection of people, a company; then, soldiers collectively, an armed force, usually in the plural. The following are some of the Heb. terms rendered “troop” in the various English versions.1. The noun gad. In Gen 30:11 the KJV erroneously translates the word as “troop” and adds in the margin
ARMY. Unlike their Egyptian and Mesopotamian counterparts, the monarchs of Israel appear not to have been interested in having their military exploits commemorated in propagandist reliefs and paintings. Our description of the Israelite military machine must therefore largely be dependent on the verbal
ArmyThe Israelite army developed through four successive stages: semi-nomadic bands, peasants’ militia, professional heavy infantry, and classic ancient Near Eastern chariot army. Despite these differentiations, the ideal remained an early one: the whole armed people, or every male “who drew the sword” (Judg.
Army (Heb. ḥayil; ṣāḇā˒; Gk. parembolḗ; stráteuma).† Both the form and function of Israel’s military forces varied in accordance with the people’s political and social circumstances. At the time of the patriarchs, combatants were drawn from the populace by clan or tribal chieftains in time
MilitaryDuring the lifetime of Jesus military establishments were maintained in Judea for policing, customs (seeTaxes) and defensive duties, and some of Jesus’ teaching reflects this situation (Mt 5:41; 22:7; Lk 21:20). Care must be taken to distinguish between the situation in Judea proper (with Samaria),
Army. I. Jewish Army.—Every man above 20 years of age was a soldier, Num. 1:3: each tribe formed a regiment, with its own banner and its own leader, Num. 2:2; 10:14: their positions in the camp or on the march were accurately fixed, Num. 2: the whole army started and stopped at a given signal, Num. 10:5,
Troop, Band. These words are employed to represent the Hebrew word gedûd, which has invariably the sense of an irregular force, gathered with the object of marauding and plunder.