Spearmen
(Acts 23:23) These were probably troops so lightly armed as to be able to keep pace on the march with mounted soldiers.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible on Spearmen
1. Incorrectly for njp /aineh, ' reeds,' in the phrase njij n;- hayyath kcineh ' the company Df spearmen," Ps 68=" [G7-"] AV (similarly Pj. Bk.) ; RV ' the wild beast of the reeds' [LXX tois flTjpiois ToO Ka\i,xov], i.e. probably the crocodUe or the hipitopotamus (cf. Job 40-') as the symbol of t-gypt. 2. For 5e^oXd;3ow (Ac 23'^ EV ; \ ulg. laiiccnru), Lachmann, following cod. A and the Peshitta (1 1 . Vn . o ^^), reads here SeJio^dXout, 'right- handed slingers.' E. Egli {ZWTh xxvii. pp. 20, 21) proposes to take the word in a passive sense (o^'o- XaSos, sic proparoxytone, ' recta captus ), lelt- handed slingers ' (cf . Jg 20>»). See Blass in loc. " \V. Emery Barnes. SPECKLED BIRD Jer 12' (only). If the MT of this passage (.7-!?^ 3-39 ^'^'^ '7 'f^HJ 5!'3> B-y:t) is correct, the tr. can hardly be other than ' Is niine heritage unto me (i.e. to my sorrow, a datinus ethicus [Cheyne, ad loc.]) (as) a speckled bird of prev ? Are (the) birds of prey against her round about?' (so, substantially, KV). The people of Israel is compared to a bird of prey, just as, on account of its hostility to…
Fausset's Bible Dictionary on Spearmen
dexiolaboi (Act 23:23). Light-armed troops, as distinguished from bowmen and targeteers; derived from their grasping the weapon with the right hand which the others could not. Alexandrinus manuscript reads dexioboloi, "hurlers with the right hand." So Syriac version. Escorted Paul to Caesarea from Jerusalem by night. Distinguished from the heavy armed "legionaries" (stratiotai), who only went as far as Antipatris, and from the cavalry who went forward to Caesarea. They accompanied these latter, and were evidently so lightly armed as to be able to keep pace on the march with the mounted soldiers.
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia