The term "machine" does not appear in the Bible, as the concept of machinery as understood in the modern sense was not present during biblical times. However, the Bible does reference various tools and devices that served mechanical purposes in the ancient world. These early forms of technology were integral to daily life and the fulfillment of God's commands, reflecting human ingenuity and the divine mandate to subdue the earth (Genesis 1:28).

Biblical References to Tools and Devices

1. Threshing Instruments: In Isaiah 41:15, the prophet speaks of a "new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges" , which was used to separate grain from chaff. This agricultural tool exemplifies early mechanical ingenuity, aiding in the efficient processing of crops.

2. Weapons of War: The Bible frequently mentions various weapons, such as swords, spears, and chariots, which can be considered early machines designed for warfare. In 1 Samuel 17:7, Goliath's spear is described as having a shaft "like a weaver’s beam" , indicating the use of advanced crafting techniques.

3. Water Systems: The construction of aqueducts and cisterns in ancient Israel demonstrates the use of engineering to manage water resources. In 2 Kings 20:20, King Hezekiah's construction of a tunnel to bring water into Jerusalem is noted, showcasing the use of technology for urban planning and survival.

4. Building Tools: The construction of the Tabernacle and the Temple involved the use of various tools and devices. In Exodus 31:3-5, God fills Bezalel with the Spirit of God, giving him wisdom and skill in craftsmanship to work with gold, silver, and bronze, indicating the divine endorsement of skilled labor and the use of tools.

5. Potter's Wheel: Jeremiah 18:3-4 describes the potter's wheel, a simple machine used to shape clay. This imagery is used to illustrate God's sovereignty and creative power, as He molds nations and individuals according to His will.

Theological Implications

The use of machines and tools in the Bible underscores the human role as co-creators with God, tasked with stewarding creation through innovation and labor. The development and use of technology are seen as part of fulfilling the cultural mandate, reflecting God's image in human creativity and problem-solving.

While the Bible does not explicitly address modern machinery, the principles of stewardship, wisdom, and ethical use of technology can be derived from its teachings. Believers are called to use technology in ways that honor God, promote human flourishing, and care for creation, aligning with the biblical values of justice, compassion, and humility.1. (n.) In general, any combination of bodies so connected that their relative motions are constrained, and by means of which force and motion may be transmitted and modified, as a screw and its nut, or a lever arranged to turn about a fulcrum or a pulley about its pivot, etc.; especially, a construction, more or less complex, consisting of a combination of moving parts, or simple mechanical elements, as wheels, levers, cams, etc., with their supports and connecting framework, calculated to constitute a prime mover, or to receive force and motion from a prime mover or from another machine, and transmit, modify, and apply them to the production of some desired mechanical effect or work, as weaving by a loom, or the excitation of electricity by an electrical machine.

2. (n.) Any mechanical contrivance, as the wooden horse with which the Greeks entered Troy; a coach; a bicycle.

3. (n.) A person who acts mechanically or at will of another.

4. (n.) A combination of persons acting together for a common purpose, with the agencies which they use; as, the social machine.

5. (n.) A political organization arranged and controlled by one or more leaders for selfish, private or partisan ends.

6. (n.) Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced to perform some exploit.

7. (v. t.) To subject to the action of machinery; to effect by aid of machinery; to print with a printing machine.

4284. machashabah -- thought, device
... Or machashebeth {makh-ash-eh'-beth}; from chashab; a contrivance, ie (concretely)
a texture, machine, or (abstractly) intention, plan (whether bad, a plot; or ...
/hebrew/4284.htm - 6k

2810. chishshabon -- device, invention
... engine, invention. From chashab; a contrivance, ie Actual (a warlike machine) or
mental (a machination) -- engine, invention. see HEBREW chashab. 2809, 2810. ...
/hebrew/2810.htm - 6k

How to Work God's Joy-Machine
... HOW TO WORK GOD'S JOY-MACHINE. ... There is just one thing wrong in your case, Brother
Littlejoy"you have not learned how to work God's joy-machine.". ...
//christianbookshelf.org/naylor/heart talks/talk forty-five how to work.htm

Of the Means of Belief
... 246. Order."After the letter That we ought to seek God, to write the letter On removing
obstacles, which is the discourse on "the machine," on preparing the ...
//christianbookshelf.org/pascal/pensees/section iv of the means.htm

Our God of the Impossible
... day. I then sat down to the sewing machine. The ... said: "You are looking very
tired, Mrs. Goforth; let me run the machine for you.". "You ...
/.../goforth/how i know god answers prayer/viii our god of the.htm

Prayer.
... You yourself are but tiny parts of a great machine, which will grind on in spite
of you, though it grind you to powder; and there is no use in asking the ...
//christianbookshelf.org/kingsley/westminster sermons/sermon iv prayer.htm

Sovereignty and Human Responsibility
... upon man, for Him to do anything more than warn or invite, would be to interfere
with man's freedom, destroy his responsibility, and reduce him to a machine. ...
/.../pink/the sovereignty of god/chapter eight sovereignty and human.htm

Geological Reform.
... "We have now considered the globe of this earth as a machine, constructed upon chemical
as well as mechanical principles, by which its different parts are all ...
/.../huxley/lay sermons addresses and reviews/xi geological reform.htm

Concluding Remarks on the Importance of Orthodoxy
... and more dogmas. The human brain is a machine for coming to conclusions;
if it cannot come to conclusions it is rusty. When we hear ...
//christianbookshelf.org/chesterton/heretics/xx concluding remarks on the.htm

The victory of Faith
... Is the world a great machine, which goes grinding on its own way without any mercy
to us or to anything; and are we each of us parts of the machine, and forced ...
/.../kingsley/town and country sermons/sermon vii the victory of.htm

The Education of the World.
... contiguity. This supposition transforms the universe into a dead machine. ...
beings. But the world of spirits cannot be a mere machine. ...
/.../essays and reviews the education of the world/the education of the world.htm

The Word Success Can of Course be Used in Two Senses. ...
... It is one thing to say that Smith's flying machine is a failure, and quite another
to say that Smith has failed to make a flying machine. ...
/.../chesterton/whats wrong with the world/chapter 37 the word success.htm

Machine (2 Occurrences)
... and connecting framework, calculated to constitute a prime mover, or to receive
force and motion from a prime mover or from another machine, and transmit ...
/m/machine.htm - 8k

Feed (117 Occurrences)
... steam boiler. 8. (vt) To supply (the material to be operated upon) to a
machine; as, to feed paper to a printing press. 9. (vt) To ...
/f/feed.htm - 39k

Mill (9 Occurrences)
... 2. (n.) A machine for grinding or comminuting any substance, as grain, by rubbing
and crushing it between two hard, rough, or indented surfaces; as, a gristmill ...
/m/mill.htm - 18k

Gin (10 Occurrences)
... 6. (n.) A machine for raising or moving heavy weights, consisting of a tripod formed
of poles united at the top, with a windlass, pulleys, ropes, etc. ...
/g/gin.htm - 12k

Tool (13 Occurrences)
... at his work; an implement; as, the tools of a joiner, smith, shoe-maker, etc.; also,
a cutter, chisel, or other part of an instrument or machine that dresses ...
/t/tool.htm - 11k

Beetle (7 Occurrences)
... 2. (n.) A machine in which fabrics are subjected to a hammering process while passing
over rollers, as in cotton mills; -- called also beetling machine. ...
/b/beetle.htm - 10k

Attachment (1 Occurrence)
... 3. (n.) Something attached; some adjunct attached to an instrument, machine, or
other object; as, a sewing machine attachment (ie, a device attached to a ...
/a/attachment.htm - 7k

Spindle (2 Occurrences)
... spinning wheels by which the thread is twisted, and on which, when twisted, it is
wound; also, the pin on which the bobbin is held in a spinning machine, or in ...
/s/spindle.htm - 8k

Loom (3 Occurrences)
... 2. (n.) A frame or machine of wood or other material, in which a weaver forms cloth
out of thread; a machine for interweaving yarn or threads into a fabric, as ...
/l/loom.htm - 8k

Lift (283 Occurrences)
... is lifted. 14. (n.) A hoisting machine; an elevator; a dumb waiter. 15.
(n.) A handle. 16. (n.) An exercising machine. 17. (n.) A ...
/l/lift.htm - 41k

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