Uzziah

2 Chronicles 26:12-14 record that King Uzziah established an elite officer corps or special forces detachment of 2,600 men and an army of 307,500 men. He is speaking of the men in the army who were not officers. 307,500 men were the regular army.

And under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. This is speaking of the men in the army who were not officers. 307,500 men were the regular army.

2 Chronicles 26:14 “And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast stones. These men who were equipped with all kinds of offensive weaponry and defensive body armor (“coats of mail” as the King James Version, Open Bible [1975] Edition translates “habergeons”. In other words, King Uzziah’s army looked like any respectable and well-equipped medieval army and it also is described as much like the warriors of Parthia that fought the Romans so often. Notice that the army also had a force of soldiers who had “slings to cast stones.” The concept of casting small stones led some exceptionally gifted engineers to realize that if soldiers could cast small stones with destructive effect over a short distance, it also would be possible to cast large stones a long way with even greater destructive effect. 

2 Chronicles 26:15 “And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong”.

The engine here is speaking of an invention of a catapult to throw stones great distances.

The defenders not only had catapults, but they had ballistas, war machines which shot very large arrows (or “bolts”) a considerable distance with terrific force. 

Uzziah king of Judah reigned for 52 years ( 791–739 bc).