* left-handed.
{Itter yad yemeeno,} "obstructed in his right hand;" so the
Chaldee Targum, {gemid beedaih deyammeena,} contracted or
impeded in his right hand." Le Clerc observes, that the 700
men left-handed seem therefore to have been made slingers,
because they could not use the right hand, which is employed
in managing heavier arms; and they could discharge the stones
from the sling in a direction against which their opponents
were not upon their guard, and thus do the greater execution.
3:15 1Ch 12:2
* sling stones.
The sling was a very ancient warlike instrument; and, in the
hands of those who were skilled in the use of it, produced
astonishing effects. The inhabitants of the islands of
Baleares, now Majorca and Minorca, were the most celebrated
slingers of antiquity. They did not permit their children to
break their fast, till they had struck down the bread they had
to eat from the top of a pole, or some distant eminence.
Vegetius tells us, that slingers could in general hit the mark
at 600; feet distance.
1Sa 17:40,49,50 25:29 2Ch 26:14
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