08-10-2009, 01:37 PM
Quote:A sword, large knife and spear or staff with buttspike it will beWe mustn't jump to conclusions. We have established that it was possible to travel armed, but we would be guilty of a secundum quid if we deduced that it was likely. And we happen to have a little bit of evidence about the likelihood that civilians were carrying swords. In Luke 22.38, those present at the Last Supper have two swords. Even if we assume that only the Twelve were present, this means that 1 in 6 people carried a sword, even after a lengthy trip up to Jerusalem. As statistical evidence, this is insufficient; but it prevents us from assuming that any civilian carried a sword.
[size=85:1c1n3370][Note: yes, Luke writes "apostles", not "twelve"; there is indeed a terminological problem over here; but at this point, it is irrelevant.][/size]
