See ARMS. Divination with arrows was a method of presaging future
events, practised by the ancients. Ezekiel, xxi, 21, informs us, that
Nebuchadnezzar, putting himself at the head of his armies, to march
against Zedekiah, king of the Jews, and against the king of the
Ammonites, stood at the parting of two ways, to mingle his arrows
together in a quiver, in order to divine from thence which way he should
march. Jerom, Theodoret, and the modern commentators after them, believe
that this prince took several arrows, and upon each of them wrote the
name of the king, town, or province, which he was to attack: for
example, upon one, Jerusalem; upon another, Rabbah, the capital of the
Ammonites; and upon another, Egypt, &c. After having put these into a
quiver, he shook them together, and then drew them out; and the arrow
which was drawn was thought to declare the will of the gods to attack
first that city, province, or kingdom, with whose name it was inscribed.
events, practised by the ancients. Ezekiel, xxi, 21, informs us, that
Nebuchadnezzar, putting himself at the head of his armies, to march
against Zedekiah, king of the Jews, and against the king of the
Ammonites, stood at the parting of two ways, to mingle his arrows
together in a quiver, in order to divine from thence which way he should
march. Jerom, Theodoret, and the modern commentators after them, believe
that this prince took several arrows, and upon each of them wrote the
name of the king, town, or province, which he was to attack: for
example, upon one, Jerusalem; upon another, Rabbah, the capital of the
Ammonites; and upon another, Egypt, &c. After having put these into a
quiver, he shook them together, and then drew them out; and the arrow
which was drawn was thought to declare the will of the gods to attack
first that city, province, or kingdom, with whose name it was inscribed.