Battering Ram

Narrator: Chris Genthree
Listen from:
Modern replica of a medieval battering ram.
The machine used anciently for knocking down gates or walls. A heavy beam was suspended by chains, at the end of which was an iron head, shaped something like a ram. The name (which in both passages is simply “ram”) may have been derived either from its shape, or from the resemblance of its action to the butting of a ram. It was pulled away from the wall and then swung heavily against it (Ezek. 4:22And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about. (Ezekiel 4:2); Ezek. 21:2222At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort. (Ezekiel 21:22)).