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TOP TEN - WARRIORS |
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Saul was handsome, tall and
commanding - a charismatic leader. But from the start, he faced a
formidable enemy, the Philistines, who occupied all the fertile land in
the central hill country of Judah.
When Saul's son Jonathan killed the Philistine governor at Geba, it was on for young and old. The Philistines took up a position opposite Gibeah in the gorge of Michmash and Johathan, without telling his father, scaled the cliff and killed twenty men in the Philistine outpost. In the ensuing fighting, Philistine control of the mountain area was broken. Saul's reign (and the reign of any tribal leader of the period) was a lifelong struggle against the enemy. At the approach of his last battle, he was filled with a deep foreboding, and went to En Dor to consult a witch about the outcome of the battle - soldiers have always been superstitious. The witch confirmed what he knew already: that the Israelite army had no chariots and could not withstand the assault of the well-armed Philistines. In the ensuing battle Saul's three sons were killed, and he himself was seriously wounded. He asked his amour-bearer to 'thrust me through', and when the young man would not do this, Saul fell on his own sword and died. The Philistines found him and hung his decapitated body on the walls of their city Beth Shan, but some loyal followers removed the body and gave it an honorable burial.
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Samson grew up to be an exceptionally strong man, but he was never a 'gentle giant'. He could not negotiate with an enemy when there was a chance of fighting instead. He does not seem to have fought in the army, as other ancient heroes such as Achilles did, in the Iliad. Rather, he used his personal strength to take on and vanquish an enemy. He caused mayhem on numerous occasions. Some of his feats include: the wedding riddle used at his marriage to the Philistine girl from Timnah, where Samson killed thirty Philistines in Ashkelon to revenge himself on the Philistine men who bribed his wife to obtain the answer to the riddle; and his final escapades with Delilah, who deceived him to learn the secret of his strength. When the Philistines learned the reason behind his prodigious strength, they captured Samson and put out his eyes making him, they thought, utterly helpless. He was led into the temple of Dagon and made sport of as part of the day's entertainment. But unnoticed by the Philistines, his hair had begun to grow back. In one last magnificent effort, he pulled the two supporting pillars of the temple apart, burying himself and up to three thousand Philistines in the rubble. |
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Barak was not eager to fight,
and when you look at the odds he faced, it's hardly surprising. His enemy was
much larger in numbers, better equipped, and with excellent morale. Their
technology was far superior to his - the controlled metal-making, so their
weaponry was far superior to anything he could give his soldiers to fight
with. His enemy, Sisera, had well-disciplined and seasoned troops. As far
as Barak could see, facing them would be tantamount to suicide.
He was eventually persuaded to fight by one of the most forceful women in the Bible, Deborah. She convinced him that winning a battle was not just a questions of equipment and training, but of strategy as well - and she had a plan. They staged the battle near a large swampy area that slowed down the formidable iron-wheeled chariots of the enemy - once these had had a brake put on them, so to speak, they would not be nearly as maneuverable or effective. At this stage, God stepped in
and sent a rainstorm, which not only slowed down the chariots but brought
them to a standstill. The archers who would normally had shot from the
back of the chariots now had wet bowstrings and limited visibility.
Barak's Israelite militia, on the other hand, excelled at hand-to-hand
combat, and were able to vanquish their enemy totally. Mud was their ally,
and the day was won.
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Jephtah started behind the
eight-ball. He was born to a prostitute, and when his father died and the
inheritance was to be divided, Jephtah's legitimate half-brothers drove
him off. He was forced to live the life of a bandit, gathering a
motley group of thugs and thieves as his henchmen.
When the Ammonites looked like going to war with the Israelites, he was courted by the very people who had thrown him out. They knew his prowess as a fighter, and they wanted his help. This time he bargained with them: 'I'll fight for you' he said, 'but on my terms'. He was victorious, and this story would have been quickly forgotten had not Jephtah, just prior to the battle, bargained with God. If he won, he told God, he would offer a sacrifice of the first living thing that ran to greet him when he returned home. What he did not foresee was that the thing that ran out towards him was his only child, a daughter whom he treasured. He kept his promise to God, and killed her. |
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There is no doubt that Omri was
one of the great military commanders of the ancient world, but we know tantalizingly
little about him. This is because of his religious policies - he allowed
his subjects to worship whatever god they chose, so the Bible has shown
him in an unfavorable light, hardly mentioning him.
In fact, he was a strong military commander who made a play for the throne after the previous king, Zimri, was was killed. The country showed signs of splitting into two, but Omri gained control, ended almost fifty years of civil strife, unified the country again, and founded a strong dynasty.
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Ahab is one of the most
under-rated kings of the Old Testament. During his reign the kingdom of
Israel played an important part in international affairs. He strengthened
ties with Phoenicia in the north and Judah in the south, marrying a
princess from Tyre (Jezebel) and then allying himself to Judah through the
marriage of his daughter Athaliah.
He was a warrior as well as a diplomat - he had to be, because Ben-Hadad the king of Damascus engaged him in three separate wars. Ben-Hadad, together with thirty-two vassal rulers, was able to advance as far as Ahab's capital Samaria, where he laid siege to the city. Ahab was able to drive him back, routing him in the process. Ahab's main enemy, however, was the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III. Ahab led a coalition of twelve kings who fought Shalmaneser at Qarqar in Syria, one of the great battles of the ancient world. Ahab provided 10,000 infantry and 2,500 chariots - details of the battle appear on the inscriptions of the Syrian king as well as in the Bible. Then, once again, Ben-Hadad broke the peace, and Ahab faced him in battle at Ramoth-Gilead. This time he dressed as a common soldier - leaders in battle were targets for the archers. The ruse did not work, and Ahab was mortally wounded by a random arrow, but fought on. When he could no longer stand, he had himself propped up in his chariot, so that he could see the fighting. As the sun went down on the battlefield, he died. |
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Joshua was Moses' successor as
leader of the Hebrew tribes as they fought for a foothold in the land of
Canaan. He is best-known for his
miraculous victory over Jericho, where 'the walls came tumbling down'. But
the real hero of the story is Joshua's God, who shows awesome power with
only minimal assistance from the Israelite soldiers. Joshua's God is a
warrior god who advises the wholesale slaughter of the Canaanite
population - the cities Joshua conquered were placed under the herem,
the ban in holy war when everything that breathed, animal and human, was
utterly destroyed.
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Everyone is familiar with the
story of David and Goliath - the boy warrior who defeats and enemy much
more ferocious than himself. This of course was a mirror of the situation
that daily faced the Israelites - they were militarily and technologically
inferior to their enemy the Philistines, and at first only guile and the
tactics of guerilla warfare got them through.
When David became king, things changed. He faced the Philistines in two decisive battles, at Baal Perazim and Rephaim near Jerusalem, defeating them and pushing them back onto the coastal plain, where they were far less of a threat to him and his people. He did not rely, as his predecessors had done, on the tribal militia, but used mercenary troops as well - the Cherethites and Pelethites, who were to be the decisive factor when his son Solomon wrested the throne from his older brother Adonijah. David set out to create an empire. In the first phase of his plan, the country saw intense military activity. He then attacked the last strongholds of the native Cananite population in the north, and added Megiddo, Beth Shean and Taanach to his territory. One significant result of this was that he at last broke the Philistine monopoly on metal manufacture - this meant that he was able to put far better weapons into the hands of his soldiers. David then undertook successful campaigns against the Moabites, Edom and then the Ammonites - this last giving him an outlet on the Red Sea. Lastly, he defeated the Arameans and annexed Aram-Zobah and Damascus, so that the borders of his kingdom reached as far as the Euphrates River. Not bad for a boy who started life as a shepherd. |
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Gideon developed the strategy of
guerilla warfare for the Israelites, and it was to be their chosen method
of fighting for many centuries. He was Israel's fourth judge in the time
between the death of Joshua and the beginning of the monarchy (a judge was
not a legal official, but someone who was filled with the spirit of God
and led military campaigns to defeat Israel's enemies.
Gideon had a number of wives, and is said to have had seventy sons, one of whom was Abimelech, by a concubine in Shechem. He was also known as Jurubaal, 'let Baal contend', a name given to him because he demolished an altar to Baal which the Israelites had built. Gideon became a judge after he was called by an angel. At first he was doubtful that it was God who was commissioning him, but once convinced he threw himself into the task of fighting the Midianites and the Amalekites, enemies of the Israelite tribes. With an army of 300 men, chosen from a much larger group by a series of tests, Gideon attacked the Midianite camp and night, panicked and then routed them. The Midianite leaders were captured and beheaded. After that Gideon returned to Succoth and tortured the elders of the city, because they had refused to give him and his men the provisions they needed. The men of Israel asked Gideon to become their king, but he refused because, as he said, Israel should have only one king, God. He then returned to his home and lived to an old age. (Judges6-8 )
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1 Maccabees tells the story of
the Hasmonean Revolt. The book starts with a brief overview of events
preceding the Revolt, and then describes the Jewish struggle for
independence and the rebellion against idolatry.
The outbreak began when a member of the Hasmonean family, Mattathias, refused to offer sacrifice to a pagan god and then struck down a Jew who had done just that. To escape imprisonment, he fled to the Gophna hills, together with his five warrior sons. Many disgruntled Jews flocked to his side, becoming a formidable army under Mattathias' leadership. After Matthias died, he was succeeded by his son Judas Maccabeus, a guerilla genius who developed a model of underdog warfare. Many of his followers were inspired by the idea of religious martyrdom - something which influenced the Jewish and Christian faiths for many centuries. Judas was not tolerant of Hellenization, not tolerant at all. He did everything he could to crush and destroy Greek-inspired ideas and culture, including murdering many Jews who had become Hellenized. In 160BC Judas fell in battle, and was succeeded by his brother Jonathan, who was also made High Priest. He also died fighting. The last surviving brother Simon did what had seemed impossible - he created and ruled a free Jewish state, the first for four and a half centuries.
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