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121 Army

organization, in which the unit consisted of a military body or company (TfU) of no fixed numerical standard, but accustomed to act together and to obey a popular leader. The existence of such companies is already indicated in the Song of

Deborah (Judges v. 14, Hebr.), where it is said: "From Machir came down the troop-leaders [A. V. "governors"], and from Zebulon those marching with the baton of the captain " the captain here be;

ing "the writer" (see A. V.), or the man who kept the muster-roll of his troop a duty later delegated Such companies to a special officer (Jer. lii. 25). consisted of volunteers, many of whom in course of time took up the business as a permanent occupation. In periods of national or local danger these men were

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Armleder

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

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Army

the landed proprietor furnished his contingent of fighting-men in proportion to his wealth; and his military reputation ordinarily dependElements ed upon such display of force. This for a was one of the reasons why Gideon, General the most stable of the judges, was Levy. chosen to take the lead against the Midianites. In the later period of the Judges there were three elements in a general levy: (1) casual recruits, a more or less irresponsible body (2) the freemen of the family or house;

bondmen; (3) irregular troopers of the guerrilla order. Gideon's sifting process on the march (Judges vii. 2 et seq. ) illustrates the various grades of quality in his motley Army.

hold, with their

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An Assyrian Army Marching through a Wooded

Region.

(From Layard, " Nineveh.")

of great service to their people but when no great occasion demanded their interference, they were apt Both to become a species of licensed freebooters. Jephthah and Samson seem to have been typical leaders of such free-lances, whose capacity for mis;

event of a wide-spread discontent with the existing order of things, was exemplified by David's band of outlaws. While some of the ruder and rougher of the judges thus became leaders of semi-professional warriors, an entirely different order of soldiery was being developed in a more regular way. As the clan and family chiefs of the earlier days put their men into the field and led them, so in more settled times the great landholders furnished their respective quotas Thus the term {jTI TDJ for the common defense. {gibbor hayil) in some cases came to signify both " man of valor " and " man of property " that is to say,

The reign of Saul constituted a stage of transition in the military as well as in all the other affairs of

Saul.

chief, in the

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During this regime the Phithe most military people of become a constant Palestine, had menace to the Hebrews, and had Israel.

Reign of

listines,

thereby revealed the imperative necessity both of a stable government and of a standing Army for the national defense. It was merely an unclassified levy that Saul had with difficulty raised against the Ammonites (I Sam. xi. 7 et seq.). After the repulse of those tribes, however, he dismissed the greater part of the host, retaining 3,000 to hold points of vantage Bethel and Gibeah against the Philistines (I Sam. 2 et seq.). Naturally, the king and the crown prince Jonathan divided the command between them; the former selecting for his special service any man distinguished for personal prowess (I Sam.

in

xiii.