It is very human for us to want things that belong to others. I suppose that if no-one did this, warfare would never have started and the endless arms race around the world wouldn’t continue. Massive defence budgets would be unnecessary.
In fact, the world would be very much as described in Micah when speaking of the
coming reign of Jesus on earth:
“He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall decide for strong nations far away;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore;
but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
and no one shall make them afraid,
for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.”
Micah 4:3-4
Warfare is something that humans seem to have always practised and many, many millions of men and
women have died as a direct result. Countless others have lived in endless fear because of the threat of warfare.
Warfare only?
Of course, some of the tools or weapons used in warfare are useful in other ways, although the bigger the weapon the less true this is. A spear can be used to catch game or to protect against marauding animals, while an intercontinental ballistic missile has almost no
use outside of warfare.
In the time of King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:15), Jerusalem was defended with clever machines mounted on the towers and corners of the walls which could shoot arrows and great stones. Wonderful inventions perhaps, but their only use would have been in warfare.
Slings
Slings, however, are very simple, light and versatile weapons. They are able to sling a sizeable stone[1] a considerable distance[2] with great accuracy – at least, in the hands of an expert![3]
King David is probably the most well-known slinger in history – famous for his killing of Goliath, the giant. Yet his skill with a sling was developed while working as a shepherd, protecting the sheep
from predators. As a shepherd, David had killed both lions and bears (1 Samuel 17:34-37).
The best part about a sling is that its ammunition can be picked up almost anywhere: from fields, roads or – as David did when he went to meet Goliath – streams.
If a soldier had no protective armour, a stone thrown at high speed from a sling could easily kill or cause serious injury. Even with the protection of armour, a sling stone could still cause fatal
internal injuries.
Notes:
[1] Sling stones are commonly between a golf ball and a tennis ball in size.
[2] Up to about 400 metres (1,300 feet).
[3] In the book of Judges we read of 700 left-handed men in an army who could sling a stone at a hair and not miss (Judges 20:16).
