Sling

Shepherds first used the sling to drive wild animals away from their flocks, and it became a weapon of war because it was so simple: two cords with a pocket between them, and stones lying on the ground. The slinger whirled it around his head and let one cord go. A trained slinger could hurl a stone up to about 180 meters (600 feet), and he could shoot uphill at the defenders on a city wall. Accuracy took long practice: Benjamin had 700 left-handed men who could “sling a stone at a hair without missing” (Judges 20:16).

David went out against Goliath with his shepherd’s staff, five smooth stones from the brook and his sling, and the stone struck the Philistine on the forehead (1 Samuel 17:40, 49). King Uzziah later supplied his whole army with slingstones (2 Chronicles 26:14). Archaeologists find sling stones by the hundreds — balls of flint or limestone about the size of a tennis ball — at besieged cities such as Lachish.