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[Shade-o]

Chariots were a symbol of the powerful empire. They were good platforms for a general or king to stand on and be seen, and they looked very threatening when they charged forward covered in spikes and blades. Very much a tool for scaring disorganised forces and flaunting the wealth of the king, which is why they were sent after the slaves in Egypt. They could also pepper the enemy with arrows and even drop off a few soldiers, acting something like personnel carriers, but their nifty uses were strongly countered by consisting of a cart tied to a couple of horses racing across a battlefield.

They would flip over if they hit a rock or hole, get bogged down in mud, lose control on slopes, have poor manoeuvrability, and leave the horses vulnerable to nearly all the attacks, which would also flip the chariot. In their time they had a role that they filled, but they were superceded by either agile cavalry or even more lumbering elephants.

The only lasting legacy was chariot racing, the incredibly lethal racing sport where they travelled in a circle on a flat track.

If an army does not have the equipment, training or strategic skill to counter them in any number of ways (not making the battlefield a perfectly flat plain, stepping to the side when they charge, pointing weapons at them...) then that does not bode well for their other ventures.


Judges 1:19 being set after shouldn't mean anything, as the rule "Fight with God and you will win, or else" is long-established by then. When they lost it was because they lost faith or otherwise annoyed God, but in 1:19 they specifically had God on their side helping them win, until they were beaten specifically because of the presence of iron chariots. Chariots were good if used by masterful tactician in perfect circumstances, and iron is as stabby as bronze, but it is odd that a common, severely handicapped weapon of war and a particular material that they were made of were enough to stop the army and/or divine being that had just conquered half the Middle East.

To me, the most intriguing part is that the Bible includes this defeat of God. I mean, of all the things to get purged and mistranslated away, this thing stays in?

[Urist is dead tome]

The style of the Bible in which it describes things is kinda weird sometimes. For example in Judges Samson uses specifically a jawbone of an ass. They could have said jaw. Or donkey bone. But they didn't. I think you just convinced yourself of this.

If you can't say God... don't you end up having problems with praying?

I can say it I just don't write it down because it's doomed to be erased.

Uidtome, I'm sorry of all the questions make you uncomfortable, but I am actually really curius as to what you mean by this?

OK. G-d has a personal name. It is far too holy to say or write down. So we call him G-d. But since it is too holy to be erased (which this will eventually be) you cannot write it down. As paper will decay and this conversation will be deleted eventually.

Just to clarify, I'm fine with any questions about my beliefs.

[fqllve]

Judges 1:19 being set after shouldn't mean anything, as the rule "Fight with God and you will win, or else" is long-established by then. When they lost it was because they lost faith or otherwise annoyed God, but in 1:19 they specifically had God on their side helping them win, until they were beaten specifically because of the presence of iron chariots. Chariots were good if used by masterful tactician in perfect circumstances, and iron is as stabby as bronze, but it is odd that a common, severely handicapped weapon of war and a particular material that they were made of were enough to stop the army and/or divine being that had just conquered half the Middle East.

To me, the most intriguing part is that the Bible includes this defeat of God. I mean, of all the things to get purged and mistranslated away, this thing stays in?

First, I think we can stop assuming that the Judean army was actually aided by a divine being in their battles. Because they weren't. The reason it's important that it was set long after is because, if I remember, Judges represents a time when Israel was weakened and divided. Also, the Israelites didn't conquer half of the Middle East. Hell, they didn't even conquer half of present day Israel. Just a few lines later it mentions that they were also unable to completely conquer the Jebusites of Jerusalem and hell, here's a bunch of other military campaigns which failed.

But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land.

In fact Jd 1:27-36 is basically a massive list of failures which is much larger than the list of successes. So yeah, the Israelites were pretty shitty militarily.

If an army does not have the equipment, training or strategic skill to counter them in any number of ways (not making the battlefield a perfectly flat plain, stepping to the side when they charge, pointing weapons at them...) then that does not bode well for their other ventures.

Indeed.

[Urist is dead tome]

And the passage about iron chariots isn't even in Judges. It's in one of the Five Books of Moses. Hmmm... Never mind.

[fqllve]

You're thinking of Joshua, which isn't part of the Torah. It's in Judges too though.

[Shade-o]

It almost sounds as if you think the Bible isn't being truthful when it mentions all those divine miracles and interventions.

It would take a man with orbs of iron to challenge the word of the Lord. Are you that man?

[Urist is dead tome]

Me? No. I'm not challenging anything.

[Shade-o]

No, I meant the person directly above my post who was implying that.

[fqllve]

It almost sounds as if you think the Bible isn't being truthful when it mentions all those divine miracles and interventions.

It would take a man with orbs of iron to challenge the word of the Lord. Are you that man?

That made me laugh.

But yeah, I totally am that man. I'd go so far to say that the Bible isn't particularly trustworthy even as a historical document.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I've also been challenging the word of the christian god for several years now. I have yet to be struck down because of this.

[Shade-o]

Have you petitioned other deities for protection from the Abrahamic God? If not, how have you ensured your survival in what must be a remarkably hostile world?

[Shade-o]

I JUST FELL INTO MY OWN SARCHASM.

[Urist is dead tome]

Are you from one of the many "ironchariot" websites?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

What exactly do you define as an "iron chariot website"? I found this and one other site with the words "iron chariots" in the url, but I would not exactly call that "many".

[Urist is dead tome]

So not many but still a lot of talk about G-d being defenseless in the presence of iron.