Jeremiah 46:4. Furbish the spears and put on the brigandines.
1. Romach is rendered “spear” in Judges 5:8 and in several other texts; “javelin,” in Numbers 25:7; “buckler,” in 1 Chronicles 12:8; (in the plural) “lancets,” in 1 Kings 18:28. It is thought to have been a spear used by heavy-armed troops. Colonel Smith, in Kitto’s Cyclopaedia, (s. v. “Arms,”) says, “Probably the shepherd Hebrews, like nations similarly situated in northern Africa, anciently made use of the horn of an onyx, or a leucoryx, above three feet long, straightened in water, and sheathed upon a thorn-wood staff. When sharpened, this instrument would penetrate the hide of a bull, and, according to Strabo, even of an elephant; it was light, very difficult to break, resisted the blow of a battle-ax, and the animals which furnished it were abundant in Arabia and in the desert east of Palestine. At a later period the head was of brass, and afterward of iron.” These horn spears were probably the original type from which the various kinds of spears were subsequently produced. Precisely how the romach differed from the other heavy spear, the chanith (see note on 1 Sam. 17:7, #253) we cannot say.
2. Siryon (“brigandine” in the text, and in Jeremiah 51:3) was a coat of scale armor; the same as shiryon, which is rendered “coat of mail” in 1 Samuel 17:5, where see the note (#251).