Engine,
a term applied exclusively to military affairs in the Bible. The engines to which the term is applied in
were designed to propel various missiles from the walls of the besieged town. One, with which the Hebrews were acquainted, was the battering ram, described in
and still more precisely in
In Jerusalem he made engines of war invented by skillful men to be on the towers and on the corners for the purpose of shooting arrows and great stones. Hence his fame spread afar, for he was marvelously helped until he was strong.
"Then lay siege against it, build a siege wall, raise up a ramp, pitch camps and place battering rams against it all around.
"Into his right hand came the divination, 'Jerusalem,' to set battering rams, to open the mouth for slaughter, to lift up the voice with a battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up ramps, to build a siege wall.
"The blow of his battering rams he will direct against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.
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