SWORD

From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

The sword (ḥerebh) is by far the most frequently mentioned weapon in Scripture, whether offensive or defensive. The blade was of iron (1Sa_13:19; Joe_3:10). It was hung from the girdle on the left side, and was used both to cut and to thrust. Ehud's sword (Jdg_3:16) was double-edged and a cubit in length, and, as he was left-handed, was worn on his right thigh under his clothes. The sword was kept in a sheath (1Sa_17:51); to draw the sword was the signal for war (Eze_21:3). Soldiers are “men who draw the sword.” It is the flashing sword (Nah_3:3); the oppressing sword (Jer_46:16); the devouring sword (2Sa_18:8; Jer_12:12); the sword which drinks its fill of blood (Isa_34:5, Isa_34:6). The sword of the Lord executes God's judgments (Jer_47:6; Eze_21:9, Eze_21:10).
Figurative: In the highly metaphorical language of the prophets it stands for war and its attendant calamities (Jer_50:35-37; Eze_21:28).
In the New Testament machaira is employed for sword in its natural meaning (Mat_26:47, Mat_26:51; Act_12:2; Heb_11:34, Heb_11:37). Paul calls the Word of God the sword of the Spirit (Eph_6:17); and in the Epistle to Hebrews the Word of God is said to be sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb_4:12). As a synonym the word rhomphaı́a is used in the Apocrypha alone of the New Testament books, save for Luk_2:35. It was the Thracian sword with large blade, and is classed by the ancients rather as a spear. The word is used frequently in the Septuagint like machaira to translate ḥerebȟ. In Rev_1:16 the sharp two-edged sword of judgment, rhomphaı́a is seen in vision proceeding out of the mouth of the glorified Lord (compare Rev_19:15). Xı́phos is still another word for sword, but it is found only in the Septuagint, and not in the New Testament.