saw Summary and Overview

Egyptian saws, so far as has yet been discovered, are single-handed. As is the case in modern Oriental saws, the teeth usually incline toward the handle, instead of away from it like ours. They have, in most cases, bronze blades, apparently attached to the handles by leathern thongs. No evidence exists of the use of the saw applied to stone in Egypt, but we read of sawn stones used in the temple. #1Ki 7:9| The saws "under" or "in" which David is said to have placed his captives were of iron. The expression in #2Sa 12:31| does not necessarily imply torture, but the word "cut" in #1Ch 20:3| can hardly be understood otherwise.

SAW . This tool, among the Hebrews, probably resembled that so often depicted upon the Egyptian monuments. It was only single-handled; the teeth ran in the opposite direction to ours, therefore the workman pushed the saw from him, as is the custom now in the East. Besides a saw for wood, Isa 10:15, there is mention of a kind for stone. 1 Kgs 7:9. Saws were used likewise as instruments of torture. 2 Sam 12:31; cf. 1 Chr 20:3; Heb 11:37. Tradition asserts that in this manner the prophet Isaiah was killed, and history recounts instances of this use of the saw among the Egyptians, Persians, and Romans.