bows of the bible

[goearnhardt]

bows are mentioned in the bible several times  just courious as to what kind they were what woods were used any info you have would be interesting

[rileyconcrete]

I believe there is a bow in there mentioned, being made of brass or bronze.  either would be interesting to know more about.  I will have to stay into this thread.

Tell

[mole]

2 Samuel 22:35.  I've seen it translated as steel, brass, bronze and copper.  I believe it must mean a wooden bow mounted with some sort of metal.

Job 6:4 talks of poisoned arrows and Pslams 7:13 speaks of fire arrows.

John

[rileyconcrete]

2 samuel 22:35

He trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.



  To me this states his strenght is enough to bend a bow of bronze.  it may be just a reference to state how strong he was. 
A bow of bronze would be quite a bow.  Would like to know if it would be possible today?


Tell

[yazoo]

I would think some sort of composite in those regions at that time,

[Orkraider]

When searching for pyramid bow dimensions and tips, I came across a buildalong for a crossbow. The limbs were steel, and the profile was straight pyramid for each limb. I don't remember what the draw weight was, but IIRC, some of the weaker crossbows made have a draw weight about the same as some of the heavier warbows. I reckon that with longer limbs, you could totally make a metal bow to shoot by hand. I've actually been thinking about it a lot, it sounds fun.

as far as what's actually in the bible, color me clueless.

[HoBow]

I wonder what wood would work in the Middle East?  Now this would be a fun project!  Any soldiers that have done stints over there have any idea of some good hard woods that would be available to the locals?

[Frode]

While by no means a biblical scholar (or any sort of scholar, for that matter), I'd tend to agree with riley that the verse describes attributes rather than the description of a specific bow, given the context (feet of a deer, etc.).
That said, after working around brass and bronze for 30+ years, any man who could pick up and lug around a bow of bronze would be a man's man in my book.  I'm not sure you could make a "functional" bow in bronze that wouldn't require three men and a boy just to move it around.  Steel, on the other hand...  India developed and used steel bows, and by some accounts the were both beautiful and functional.  A couple of links, there are more, but my sieve memory is extra leaky right now...  Also, these would be out of period.

.atarn.org/india/maharaja.htm
margo.student.utwente.nl/sagi/artikel/steelbow/steelbow.html

Now, to topic, you might try ancient Egyptian bows, there's some info in a thread from here;

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,16720.0.html

and probably more over on atarn.net, but I'd need to dig further.

If I come up with anything, I'll post, probably tomorrow.

Frode

[Blacktail]

wasnt there a pa artical a few months back that some wrote about bows in the bible..john

[Justin Snyder]

I have seen metal bows from that period, but I don't recall all of the materials. One had copper inlay for decoration.

[zenmonkeyman]

Olives grow throughout the region, I think I've read that it's an excellent bow wood?

[Timo]

Many types of woods mentioned in the Bible.Olive,gopher,acacia,shittim,cedar,(not sure they are all spelled right).I would say that all these woods were used as bow woods.

And of course there is the one,"I set my bow in the sky as a reminder"  That of course is the greatest bow of all.....

[deerhunter97370]

My Pastors Son in law is a Biblical History Professor at NNU and I asked him about bows of the Bible and he said that most like the Isrealites probly borrowed if not copyed designs from Eygtian or Hitites. He said hes no weapon expert so he doesnt know for sure.

[Jake Levi]

In the Antiquity  Authority Museum in Jerusalem is a mild recurved bow of  olive wood, I have seen it and was able to handle it, it was strung backwards, but did get the curator to correct that.  I have seen pics of similar Egyptian bows. There are several other bows there, in pieces, found in tombs but unknown woods. They looked like they were narrow,  I am guessing RD.  I have tried acacia wood, hard to find decent stave material of it, and it made an indifferent bow, barely 30 lbs. But a good bowyer may well have done better. So much of the native wood has been poached by Arabs that its hard to approximate what was available in biblical times. 

[yazoo]

how hard would be to get some olive wood,,I am sure  some one in the states inports it,