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Article WINGED WORDS OF ANCIENT ARCHERS. ← Page 2 of 2
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Winged Words Of Ancient Archers.
ing grounds of our ancestors , or the distances between the butts . The spot , no doubt , was one to which the Prince was accustomed to resort for the practice of archery , and he appointed the interview there expressly to blind any suspicion that might arise as to his real object . Whether he shot at a butt or a bush , at a target or a tree , is not specifically stated ; though , from the tenor of the text , it is rather to be inferred that he shot at the time with the roving arrow .
That David also was an expert archer , although particularly celebrated for his skill as a slinger , there is no reason to doubt ; and he would the more especially become conversant with the use of the warbow during his residence among the tribes of the Philistines , who , as we have seen , were masters of that weapon . An outlaw by the
persecuting spirit of Saul , David was driven to dwell among the deserts and the forests , and the caves of the hill-sides ; and in this situation he drew around him a band- of desperate and determined men , who made him their leader , and followed his fortunes , to the number of four hundred . Engaged in frequent forays with the surrounding nations , these freerangers , as they may be termed , naturally and necessarily became redoubted bowmen , and adepts in all the arts of archery as practised by
the Philistines or Cerethites . David afterwards , on his accession to the throne of Judah , conferred on them the honour of being his royal body guard . In this new duty they retained , or rather received the name of Cerethites , from their being equipped as the archers of that nation ; or it may be , from the name also signifying '' exterminators ; " an appellation which their fierce successes previously justified . David , in the Psalms , speaks of bows of brass , or of steel , as some translate it . This language may he figurative or not , for it is known that such bows have been made , even in comparatively modern times , as among the Turks . The Hebrews in general , however , made use of wootl .
fco impressed was King David with the importance of this weapon , from his intercourse with the warlike tribes of Philistia , that immediately on his elevation to the throne , he issued orders that all the men of Judah should he " taught" the use of the bow . Not that we are to infer that they were then absolutel y ignorant of it ; but in order that they might be instructed in the most approved discipline of the art , as practised by the Cerethites and Pelethites—the latter , as their name imports ,
in Chaklee , " drawers of the bow , " being also expert archers . W ith these attempts to concentrate the few transient glimpses we get of ancient Archers and Archery in the books of the Old Testament , turn we to take a glimpse at the heroes of the bow and quiver hymned by him , The blind old man of Seio ' s rocky isle , ol whom some ewea Trrepdei / ra , in our next . TOXOTES .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Winged Words Of Ancient Archers.
ing grounds of our ancestors , or the distances between the butts . The spot , no doubt , was one to which the Prince was accustomed to resort for the practice of archery , and he appointed the interview there expressly to blind any suspicion that might arise as to his real object . Whether he shot at a butt or a bush , at a target or a tree , is not specifically stated ; though , from the tenor of the text , it is rather to be inferred that he shot at the time with the roving arrow .
That David also was an expert archer , although particularly celebrated for his skill as a slinger , there is no reason to doubt ; and he would the more especially become conversant with the use of the warbow during his residence among the tribes of the Philistines , who , as we have seen , were masters of that weapon . An outlaw by the
persecuting spirit of Saul , David was driven to dwell among the deserts and the forests , and the caves of the hill-sides ; and in this situation he drew around him a band- of desperate and determined men , who made him their leader , and followed his fortunes , to the number of four hundred . Engaged in frequent forays with the surrounding nations , these freerangers , as they may be termed , naturally and necessarily became redoubted bowmen , and adepts in all the arts of archery as practised by
the Philistines or Cerethites . David afterwards , on his accession to the throne of Judah , conferred on them the honour of being his royal body guard . In this new duty they retained , or rather received the name of Cerethites , from their being equipped as the archers of that nation ; or it may be , from the name also signifying '' exterminators ; " an appellation which their fierce successes previously justified . David , in the Psalms , speaks of bows of brass , or of steel , as some translate it . This language may he figurative or not , for it is known that such bows have been made , even in comparatively modern times , as among the Turks . The Hebrews in general , however , made use of wootl .
fco impressed was King David with the importance of this weapon , from his intercourse with the warlike tribes of Philistia , that immediately on his elevation to the throne , he issued orders that all the men of Judah should he " taught" the use of the bow . Not that we are to infer that they were then absolutel y ignorant of it ; but in order that they might be instructed in the most approved discipline of the art , as practised by the Cerethites and Pelethites—the latter , as their name imports ,
in Chaklee , " drawers of the bow , " being also expert archers . W ith these attempts to concentrate the few transient glimpses we get of ancient Archers and Archery in the books of the Old Testament , turn we to take a glimpse at the heroes of the bow and quiver hymned by him , The blind old man of Seio ' s rocky isle , ol whom some ewea Trrepdei / ra , in our next . TOXOTES .