Mattock

A mattock was an agricultural digging tool similar to a hoe or pickaxe, used for breaking hard ground, cultivating vineyards, and clearing land. Isaiah 7:25 refers to hills that had been worked with mattocks being given over to briers and thorns following the Assyrian devastation of the land. The Philistines' monopoly on iron-working required Israelites to come to them to sharpen their mattocks along with other iron tools, giving them a military and agricultural advantage over Israel during Saul's reign (1 Samuel 13:20–21).