Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on 2 Chronicles 26:15
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers, and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal, etc.] Such as with the Romans were called “catapultae”, “ballistae” f106 , “scorpiones” f107, etc. and by this it appears that these were not first invented in Greece and Rome, but in Judea. It is said f108, that the Romans received the machine to batter cities from the Greeks, and that the Trojan horse was no other than a battering ram; but if they did, the invention of them must be ascribed, not to them, but rather to the Syrians and Phoenicians, according to Pliny f109; though others f110 suppose the Carthaginians, who were a colony of theirs, to be the inventors of them; yet, after all, they seem to be the device of some skilful men among the Jews, in the times of Uzziah; according to Diodorus Siculus f111, they were not found out when Nineveh was besieged in the times of Sardanapalus: and his name spread far abroad; in distant countries, for his warlike dispositions and preparations, which made them stand in fear of him: for he was helped until he was strong; he was wonderfully helped by the Lord to build fortified places, raise a numerous army, and provide all sorts of armour for them, and invent such machines as would greatly annoy the enemy, whereby he became very potent, and injected dread round about him.
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