Javelin

The javelin is a heavy lance, a hand-held shafted weapon whose appearances cluster around named figures rather than around battle narratives in general. UPDV uses several English terms for the underlying Hebrew vocabulary — "javelin," "spear," and the plural "spears" among "weapons" stockpiled for war — and these distinctions surface around Goliath, Saul, and Phinehas.

A Heavy Lance Among Weapons of War

Ezekiel's vision of Israel's vindication after Gog's defeat lists the captured arsenal that the cities will burn for fuel: "the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they will make fires of them seven years" (Eze 39:9). The javelin appears here as one item in a standard inventory of ancient weapons, alongside missile and shock arms.

Goliath's Bronze Javelin

The Philistine champion's panoply at the encounter with David includes a javelin specifically: "And he had greaves of bronze on his legs, and a javelin of bronze between his shoulders" (1Sa 17:6). The weapon is slung at the back, distinct from the spear he carries (later described in the same chapter), and made of bronze like his greaves.

The Weapon Phinehas Took Up

The javelin or spear is also the instrument of priestly zeal. When Phinehas saw the public sin at the camp's gate, "he rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand" (Nu 25:7), and went after the offender with it. The narrative places this hand-lance in the hand of Aaron's grandson rather than a soldier.

Saul's Spear and the Attempts on David

The largest cluster of references is Saul's repeated use of his spear against David. The first attempt comes during one of David's harp-playing sessions: "an evil spirit from God came mightily on Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as he did day by day. And Saul had his spear in his hand; and Saul cast the spear; for he said, I will strike David even to the wall. And David avoided out of his presence twice" (1Sa 18:10–11).

The pattern repeats. Later, "an evil spirit from Yahweh was on Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand" (1Sa 19:9). Then "Saul sought to strike David even to the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he struck the spear into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night" (1Sa 19:10).

The weapon in Saul's hand is presented almost as a fixture of his troubled royal household — present when the spirit comes on him, present when David plays the harp, and the chosen instrument of two near-identical assaults that David survives by stepping aside.