ENGINE. A battering ram (Ezek 26:9); also a device used in connection with shooting arrows or other missiles (2 Chron 26:15).

1. The word “engine” refers to a battering ram once in the OT (Ezek 26:9) where it is used against city walls. The KJV reads “engines of war,” the ASV “his battering engines,” and the RSV “the shock of his battering rams” (Heb. מְחִ֣י קָֽבָלֹּ֔ו, the stroke of his forward part, i.e., the stroke of his battering ram). The usual Heb. word for battering ram is כַּר (Ezek 4:2, et al.). The siege engine mentioned in 1 Maccabees 13:43, 44 (Gr. ἑλεόπολις) was prob. a large, portable tower including battering rams. The usual Gr. word is κριός (2 Macc 12:15).

A typical battering ram, the kind used by the Assyrians, was mounted inside of a mobile device about fifteen ft. long and half as high. It was suspended by a rope in the center so that it could be swung. The ram was used to strike at the cracks between the stones and when forced into the cracks it was then pushed back and forth to dislodge the stones. On the front of the unit was a turret adding another nine ft. to the height from which the assailants could shoot arrows or direct operations. The unit was mounted on four or six wheels for mobility.

2. According to 2 Chronicles 26:15 Uzziah “made engines...to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones.” The word “engine” (חִשָּׁבﯴן, H3115, “device,” “invention,” LXX μηχανή, “machine,” “engine”) has been understood to mean a device for the purpose of firing arrows or stones.

The same Gr. word appears in 1 Maccabees 6:51, 52 and 2 Maccabees 12:15 in similar contexts. Concerning the passage in 2 Chronicles, Yadin feels that this does not refer to a specific catapult or firing device as there seems to be no evidence of this existing anywhere at this time but that these were wooden devices with shields in the fortification of the walls to protect those who were shooting arrows and throwing stones. They protected the defenders of the city so that they could stand upright and use their weapons with comparative safety and freedom of movement. These are pictured in Assyrian reliefs.

Bibliography A History of Technology, II (1957), 698-703, 715-717; Y. Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands (1963), 16-18, 313-316, 326, 327.