File

The file is a metalworking tool used to sharpen edged implements. It appears in a single passage of the UPDV, embedded in the description of Israel's industrial dependence on the Philistines during Saul's reign.

Sharpening Tools Under Philistine Monopoly

In the days of Saul there was no smith in Israel, by Philistine policy: "Now there was no blacksmith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, Or else the Hebrews will make swords or spears" (1 Sam 13:19). To sharpen ordinary farm gear the Israelites had to cross over to Philistine smiths — "all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his plowshare, and his coulter, and his ax, and his mattock" (1 Sam 13:20). The file is named in the next verse as the one piece of equipment they were able to keep at hand for routine maintenance: "yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the three-pronged fork, and for the axes, and to set the goads" (1 Sam 13:21). The detail underscores why the army that mustered against the Philistines went out under-equipped — "there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan" (1 Sam 13:22). The file is the household-level tool left to a people locked out of their own metalworking.