קִלְּשׁוֹן
a prong, i.e. hay-fork
Definition
קִלְּשׁוֹן refers to a three-pronged agricultural implement used for handling harvested grain, specifically a hay-fork or pitchfork. In its single biblical occurrence, it describes a tool that had become worn down and needed sharpening, indicating its practical, everyday use in ancient farming. The word conveys the idea of a forked instrument designed for lifting and moving loose materials like straw or cut grain. While some translations simply render it as 'fork,' the context in 1 Samuel 13:21 specifies it was a tool with prongs that required maintenance to remain functional.
Biblical Usage
This word appears only once in the Old Testament, in 1 Samuel 13:21. It is used in a descriptive list of Philistine-imposed economic hardships on Israel, specifying the cost for sharpening various farming tools. The context is agricultural and economic, detailing the tools necessary for basic subsistence farming that were deliberately made scarce or expensive to keep the Israelites dependent and militarily weak. No other patterns exist due to its single occurrence.
Etymology
Derived from an unused Hebrew root meaning 'to prick' or 'to pierce,' which aptly describes the function of its prongs. The noun form קִלְּשׁוֹן (qillᵉshôwn) is a tool name built from this root, emphasizing its pointed, penetrating action. Cognates or related words in other Semitic languages are not clearly attested, but the root concept aligns with tools designed for piercing or lifting bundled materials.
Semantic Range
In the ancient Near East, control over basic agricultural tools was a means of social and military control, as depicted in 1 Samuel 13:19-22. The קִלְּשׁוֹן was a vital implement for processing harvested grain, likely used to pitch straw or hay. The Philistines' monopoly on ironworking and tool maintenance (charging a high price—a pim—for sharpening) effectively disarmed the Israelites, who had to resort to using inferior stone or bronze tools. This historical detail underscores the technological and economic oppression that shaped Israel's early monarchy period.
מַגְרֵפָה (magrēphâ, H4227) — a shovel or fork for removing ashes from an altar, used in cultic rather than agricultural contexts. חֲרִיצִים (ḥărîṣîm, H2757) — threshing sledges with sharp stones or metal teeth, used for processing grain on the threshing floor, not for lifting.
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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