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Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Archery in the Bible

There are many instances of archery within the Bible. Here are some of the best examples. There are also various stories of saints and their use of archery (or being shot with arrows, like in the case of St. Sebastian).

Genesis 21:20
God was with the lad, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer.

Genesis 25:27
When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents.

Genesis 27:3
"Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me;

1 Samuel 20:18-23
Then Jonathan said to him, "Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed because your seat will be empty. "When you have stayed for three days, you shall go down quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself on that eventful day, and you shall remain by the stone Ezel. "I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target.

1 Samuel 20:35-38
Now it came about in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field for the appointment with David, and a little lad was with him. He said to his lad, "Run, find now the arrows which I am about to shoot." As the lad was running, he shot an arrow past him. When the lad reached the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the lad and said, "Is not the arrow beyond you?"

1 Samuel 31:1-3
Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua the sons of Saul. The battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was badly wounded by the archers.

2 Samuel 1:22
"From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, The bow of Jonathan did not turn back, And the sword of Saul did not return empty.

2 Samuel 11:14-17
Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. He had written in the letter, saying, "Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die." So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men.

2 Samuel 11:24
"Moreover, the archers shot at your servants from the wall; so some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead."

1 Kings 22:34
Now a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel in a joint of the armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, "Turn around and take me out of the fight; for I am severely wounded."

2 Kings 9:24
And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength and shot Joram between his arms; and the arrow went through his heart and he sank in his chariot.

2 Kings 19:32
'Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, "He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield or throw up a siege ramp against it.

1 Chronicles 5:18
The sons of Reuben and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, consisting of valiant men, men who bore shield and sword and shot with bow and were skillful in battle, were 44,760, who went to war.

1 Chronicles 8:40
The sons of Ulam were mighty men of valor, archers, and had many sons and grandsons, 150 of them. All these were of the sons of Benjamin.

1 Chronicles 12:1-2
Now these are the ones who came to David at Ziklag, while he was still restricted because of Saul the son of Kish; and they were among the mighty men who helped him in war. They were equipped with bows, using both the right hand and the left to sling stones and to shoot arrows from the bow; they were Saul's kinsmen from Benjamin.

2 Chronicles 14:8
Now Asa had an army of 300,000 from Judah, bearing large shields and spears, and 280,000 from Benjamin, bearing shields and wielding bows; all of them were valiant warriors.

2 Chronicles 26:14
Moreover, Uzziah prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows and sling stones.

2 Chronicles 35:23
The archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, "Take me away, for I am badly wounded."

Psalms 7:12-13
If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts.

Isaiah 13:17-18
Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them, Who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold. And their bows will mow down the young men, They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, Nor will their eye pity children.

Isaiah 66:19
"I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory And they will declare My glory among the nations.

Jeremiah 4:29
At the sound of the horseman and bowman every city flees; They go into the thickets and climb among the rocks; Every city is forsaken, And no man dwells in them.

Jeremiah 51:11
Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, Because His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it; For it is the vengeance of the LORD, vengeance for His temple.

Lamentations 2:4
He has bent His bow like an enemy; He has set His right hand like an adversary And slain all that were pleasant to the eye; In the tent of the daughter of Zion He has poured out His wrath like fire.

Lamentations 3:12-13
He bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow. He made the arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts.

Ezekiel 5:16
'When I send against them the deadly arrows of famine which were for the destruction of those whom I will send to destroy you, then I will also intensify the famine upon you and break the staff of bread.

Zechariah 9:13
For I will bend Judah as My bow, I will fill the bow with Ephraim And I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece; And I will make you like a warrior's sword.


Monday, January 12, 2015

Archery in Islam

Archery holds a special place in Islam, being 1 of the three sports endorsed by the Prophet Muhammad:

Archery
Horseback Riding
Swimming

It is therefore no surprise that archery played an important role for hunting, war, and the simple sport of friendly competition.

For example during the Battle of Jamal, which took place at Basra, Iraq on 7 November 656, archery and camel riding played a very important role. Elephant howdahs also played a role in the battle.

The Battle of Jamal

Quotes about Archery in Islam

"The Prophet (peace be upon him) once passed by a group of his Companions who were competing in archery. He encouraged them, saying, “Shoot, and I am with you.” "

"The Prophet Muhammad said: “Learn the shooting of arrows, and do not be averse to it, for the areas between the two targets holds a garden of the gardens of paradise.” "

"O Khalid, let me tell you what I heard the Messenger of Allah say. He said: “Allah admits three people into Paradise because of one arrow. The one who makes it, doing so with the intention of good, the one who shoots it and the one who hands it over to the archer. So go out and train in archery and in horseback riding. And I prefer you train in archery. Entertainment is appropriate in only three forms: Training your horse, spending time with your wife, and archery. And whoever learns archery and then abandons it has rejected a blessing from Allah” "

"The Prophet (peace be on him) said, “Practice archery; that is good for you.” "

"The Messenger of Allah passed next to boys playing a game of archery. He said: “Shoot children of Ismael, your father was a great archer. Shoot and I will join so and so” and he joined one of the teams. The Messenger of Allah then said: “Why did you stop?” They said: “How can we do so when you are with them?” He said: “Go ahead and shoot, I am with all of you!” "

"I saw Jabir bin Abdullah and Jabir bin Umair al Ansari target shooting while one of them got bored and sat down. The other told him: I heard the Messenger of Allah say: “Everything that is not remembrance of Allah is in vain except four things: Your walking between your targets, training your horse, playing with your wife, and swimming practice” "

"Amr bin Absah Radiya-allahu anhu said we were laying siege to al Taif and I heard the Messenger of Allah say: “Whoever shoots an arrow in the sake of Allah will be rewarded like one who has freed a slave” Amr said I shot 16 arrows on that day."

"Utbah bin Abd al Sulami Radiya-allahu anhu narrated: The Messenger of Allah told his companions: “Stand up and fight!” So a man stood up and shot an arrow. The Messenger of Allah said: “This man is granted Paradise” "

"Faqeem al Lakhmi Radiya-allahu anhu told Uqbah bin Amer Radiya-allahu anhu: “You are running between these two targets and you are at this old age!” Uqbah(RA) said: “If it wasn’t for some words I heard from the Messenger of Allah I wouldn’t have gone through this” The narrator asked what those words were, he Radiya-allahu anhu said: “Whoever learns target shooting and then abandons it is not one of us – or he said, “has committed a sin” "

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