חֲלִיצָה
spoil
Definition
חֲלִיצָה (chălîytsâh) refers to 'spoil' or 'plunder' taken from a defeated enemy, specifically the armor and weapons stripped from the slain. In Judges 14:19, it describes the garments Samson took from the Philistines he killed. In 2 Samuel 2:21, it refers to the armor of Asahel, which Abner urges his pursuer to take after killing him, essentially as war booty. The term thus consistently denotes valuable items seized by force in a military context.
Biblical Usage
This noun appears only twice in the Old Testament, both in narrative accounts of violent conflict. In Judges 14:19, it is the spoil Samson claims after striking down thirty Philistines. In 2 Samuel 2:21, Abner tells Asahel to take the armor (חֲלִיצָה) of a slain soldier, implying it as a rightful prize. The usage is exclusively martial, relating to the immediate aftermath of combat.
Etymology
Derived from the root חָלַץ (chalats, H2503), which means 'to draw off' or 'to strip.' This root conveys the action of removing something, such as drawing a weapon or, as here, stripping armor from a body. The noun form חֲלִיצָה thus literally means 'that which is stripped off.'
Semantic Range
While not a central theological term, חֲלִיצָה illustrates the harsh realities of holy war and divine judgment in the Old Testament narrative. In Judges 14, the taking of spoil follows God's Spirit empowering Samson for victory (Judges 14:19), framing the plunder as part of God's deliverance of Israel from the Philistines. It serves as a tangible symbol of victory granted by God.
In ancient Near Eastern warfare, stripping the armor and weapons of the dead was a standard practice. It served both practical and symbolic purposes: practically, it equipped the victor with valuable resources; symbolically, it demonstrated total defeat and humiliation of the enemy. The offer in 2 Samuel 2:21 also reflects a cultural attempt to halt a blood feud by offering the legitimate spoils of war.
שָׁלָל (shalal, H7998) — A more general term for 'spoil,' 'booty,' or 'plunder,' often including people, animals, and goods, not limited to armor.
Word Details
How this works
Hebrew definitions are from Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906) and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890), both public domain. BDB was groundbreaking for its era but reflects 19th-century assumptions about Semitic etymology. Modern scholarship (HALOT, DCH) has revised many entries. Use these definitions as a starting point for exploration, not as the final word on a term's meaning in context.
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