Military, "invented by cunning men" under Uzziah (2Ch_26:15); propelling missiles, stones, and arrows. The monuments of Egyptian and Assyrian warfare have no representations of such engines. Thus Scripture is confirmed, that the invention was in Judah under Uzziah. Pliny (7:56) assigns it to Syria. Ezekiel (Eze_26:9) alludes to battering rams, mehhi qaballo, "a striking of that which is in front," whether with a battering ram, or balista, or catapult; "he shall set an apparatus for striking against thy walls"; also Eze_21:22; Eze_4:2, karim, translated "captains" in Eze_21:22, where see margin.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.