It says in these verses that the Philistines (who I believe were ruling over the Israelites at the time) did not allow the Israelites to have a blacksmith shop in their lands "lest [they] make them swords and spears." So, the Israelites went to the Philistines' shops and sharpened all of their farming instruments to use
them for battle. This is the opposite of what the Lord says is going to happen in the Millennial Day (Isaiah 2:4). I never knew that there was an instance when the opposite of what Isaiah speaks of ("beat[ing]...swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks") had happened. That makes the prophecy of Isaiah that much more powerful to me.
