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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

brews is called " ish hayil " (the man of [military] strength; warrior). Abraham, the prototype of the nation, while guided by the words, " Let there be no for

strife, I

we

pray

thee,

are brethren

between me and

thee,

.

.

.

"

(Gen. xiii. 8, R. V.), goes courageously to war against the four mighty kings to rescue his nephew, and refuses to take a portion of the spoils after having liberated the land of Sodom (Gen. xiv. 14-23). It fell to Spirit Esau's, not to Jacob's, lot to " live by of Bravery, the sword " (Gen. xxvii. 40) yet no sooner did Simeon and Levi, the sons of Jacob, learn of the villainy (not "folly," as in A. V. and R. V.) which Shechem, the son of Hamor, had wrought with regard to their sister Dinah, than

Army-

was formed (I Mace. xiv. 32), the soldiers receiving payment. Jews served as mercenaries in the Syrian Army also (I Mace. x. 36). Hyrcanus I. was the maintain foreign mercenaries (Josephus, § 4); Alexander Jannaeus did likewise (Josephus, "B. J." i. 4, § 3). One of the chief obstacles in Jewish warfare at the beginning of the Hasmonean uprising was that the Jews were prevented from carrying arms on the Sabbath. This exposed them to the peril of being attacked without being able to defend themselves (see I Mace. ii. 38; Josephus, "B. J." i. 7, § 3; ii. 16, § 4; idem, "Ant." xviii. 9, § 2); but it was decided that in defense, and in sieges as well, when the warriors were regarded as carrying out special divine ordinances, fighting on the Sabbath day was permitted (I Mace. ii. 41; Sifre, Deut. 204; Shab. 19a). Whether arms may be carried on the Sabbath as an ornament of the warrior, or not, is a matter of dispute between Eliezer— who stands on the affirmative side and the other tannaim, righting who see in weapons of war a necesearliest to

"Ant."

xiii. 8,

—

on

sary evil that the Messianic time, the world's great Sabbath, will do away with (Shab. vi. 4). "Nor did our forefathers," says Josephus ("Contra Ap." i. 12), " betake themselves, as did some others, to robbery nor did they, in order to gain more wealth, fall into foreign wars, although our country contained many ten thousands of men of courage sufficient for that purpose." Of the heroic valor displayed by the Jews at the siege of Jerusalem, the last three books of Josephus on the wars of the Jews, and the Midrashim, give ample testimony. It filled Titus and his soldiers with admiration. And yet, despite the terrible losses and cruel tortures inflicted upon the nation by the victor, the war spirit did not die out in the Jewish people. Bar Kokba's Army, which tradition places at 200,000 men, performed wonders of heroism (Git. 57<s Lam. R. ii. 2; Yer. Ta'anit, iv. 69a; Pesik. R. 29, 30 [ed. Friedmann, p. 13% et seq.]).

Sabbath,

Persian Foot-Soldiers. (After Coste and Flandin,

" La Perse Ancienne.")

man his sword, and came upon the and slew all the males" (Gen. xxxiv.). The Mosaic laws on warfare, which insist that peace should be offered to a city before it be besieged (Deut. xx. 10), are framed on the presumption that they

"

took each

city boldly,

among

the people since the officers are enjoined to issue before the battle the proclamation " What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? let him go and return unto his house lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart " (Deut. xx. 8 compare Josephus, " Ant. " iv. Sotah viii. 1). Indeed, the Song of Deborah 8, § 41 echoes the spirit of heroic warfare, while it upbraids the tribes and clans that abode by the sheepfolds and would not come to the help of the Lord against the mighty (Judges v. 8etseg., 16, 23). Thus the battle of Gideon (ib. vii.) was a battle of heroes. So do the feats of Saul (I Sam. xi. 7-11), of Jonathan (ib. xiv. 13-45; compare II Sam. i. 22), of David f aint-heartedness is rare









Sam. xvii., xviii. 7) and his men (II Sam. xxiii.), and the warlike psalms (Ps. xx., xlviii., lxviii., ex., cxlix.) testify to the value laid on prowess by the (I

Hebrew

nation.

The

religious enthusiasm of the

Hasmoneans

lent to their patriotism in war still greater intensity, and made of the people a race

of heroes

(1

Mace.

iii.

21, iv.

8

et seg.,

v. 31 et seq.,

vi. 42).

Under the Hasmonean dynasty a regular Army



The

story of Anilai (Hanilai) and Asinai (Hasi-

nai), the

Jewish robber generals, whose

Army

filled

the lands of Babylonia and Parthia with fear, forms a strange chapter in the history of the Jews of the East (see Josephus, "Ant." xviii. 9, |§l-9). But not only in their own country did the Jews

prove to be brave soldiers. Josephus ("Ant." xi. 8, § 5) records that many Jews enlisted of their own accord in the Army of Alexander the Great, and that Ptolemy I., recognizing their bravery and loyalty, took many Jews and distributed them into garrisons Ptolemy Philometor and his wife Cleo(ib. xii. 1). patra committed their whole kingdom to Onias and Dositheus, the two Jewish generals of the whole Army, whose bravery and loyalty were the safeguards of the queen in times of great Classical peril (Josephus, "Contra Ap." ii. 5). Helkias and Ananias, two Jewish genTimes. erals of Cleopatra, saved her throne from the onslaughts of her own son, Ptolemy Lathy rus (idem, "Ant." xiii. 13, § 1). Seleucus Nicator and Antiochus, his grandson, kings of Syria, received aid from the Jews in their wars, and in recognition endowed them with many privileges of citizenship

(ib.

xii.

3,

§§

1-3).

The