1 Samuel 13:20

20 So whenever the Israelites needed to sharpen their plowshares, picks, axes, or sickles, they had to take them to a Philistine blacksmith.

1 Samuel 13:20 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 13:20

But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines
Were obliged to go into Palestine, into some one or other of the cities of the Philistines, or to their garrisons, where the trade of a smith was exercised:

to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter;
which are the parts of the plough made of iron, with which the earth is cut and thrown up:

and his axe and his mattock;
or pick axe; with the one wood is felled and cut, and with the other stones are dug; and each of these for their several uses needed sharpening; and when they did, they were obliged to go to the Philistines to have them done, they having no smiths among them.

1 Samuel 13:20 In-Context

18 another went west to Beth-horon, and the third moved toward the border above the valley of Zeboim near the wilderness.

19 There were no blacksmiths in the land of Israel in those days. The Philistines wouldn’t allow them for fear they would make swords and spears for the Hebrews.

20 So whenever the Israelites needed to sharpen their plowshares, picks, axes, or sickles, they had to take them to a Philistine blacksmith.

21 The charges were as follows: a quarter of an ounce of silver for sharpening a plowshare or a pick, and an eighth of an ounce for sharpening an ax or making the point of an ox goad.

22 So on the day of the battle none of the people of Israel had a sword or spear, except for Saul and Jonathan.

Footnotes

• [a]. As in Greek version; Hebrew reads or plowshares.