The Armour of King David Wednesday, November 29, 2017

This is not a rebuttal but simply a light respons to a stupid question from an old dude who keeps on repeating same silly questions about many verses of Al-Quran since 7-8 years ago untill today.

One of the question is, Wikipedia tells that body armor, or mail armour, was found in 3 BCE. How come QS. 34:11 tells that Prophet Dawud Pbuh (King David) who live in 10 BCE already wore a body armour? This must have been a terrible mistake!

To see whether it is a terrible mistake or not, let us check first 1Samuel 18:4 in The Bible. It's written in Hebrew as follows:

וַיִּתְפַּשֵּׁ֣ט יְהֹונָתָ֗ן אֶֽת־הַמְּעִיל֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָלָ֔יו וַֽיִּתְּנֵ֖הוּ לְדָוִ֑ד וּמַדָּ֕יו וְעַד־חַרְבֹּ֥ו וְעַד־קַשְׁתֹּ֖ו וְעַד־חֲגֹרֹֽו׃   

And Parallel Verses of 1Samuel 18:4 translate it to:

NEW AMERICAN STANDAR BIBLE 

Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt.

KING JAMES BIBLE

And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

Then Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his military tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt. 

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD VERSION

Jonathan took off the robe that he had on and gave it to David, along with his coat, his sword, his bow, and his belt. 

NET BIBLE

Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with the rest of his gear, including his sword, his bow, and even his belt. 

GOD'S WORD® Translation

Jonathan took off the coat he had on and gave it to David along with his battle tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.

KING JAMES 2000 BIBLE

And Jonathan removed the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his belt.

As for the dude's stupid curriousity, now let us take a good look at how a battle tunic, military tunic, armour, or body armor actually looks in 1000-400 BCE, the era between Bronze age and Iron age.

During the bronze age, armors had been tried to be made, but they were ineffective at providing protection, which was why they used clothe since it was lighter and it provided about the same protection. The Iron Age body armor was completely different from the Bronze Age amor. It provided a great about of protection since it was perfected. 

In the picture to the left, there is a body armor during this time. The green color shows that there was bronze in this armor. They used a combination of iron and bronze because soldiers liked like armor, so they combined iron and bronze to make a armor that can protect the soldier and that was light enough for the soldiers to move quickly. The armor was a huge change because the bronze weapons were not strong enough to pierce the armor, and it changed how soldiers fought. The weapons also had a significant change. Much like the change from stone weapons to bronze weapons, iron weapons were more durable and stronger than the bronze weapons when Iron age II began.

Back to 1Samuel 18:4, most likely this is the kind of body armor  that Jonathan gave to David who on the later dates developed it into a much more stronger and lighter as mentioned in QS. 34:11.

The bottom line is, body armor already existed in King David's time! 

So, shame on you dude! 

Apparently your Bible also tells a story that matched with the fact being told in Al-Quran concerning King David's armour, doesn't it?

Sources: 

1. Biblehub.com

2. Michael Miltih Time Line