Shield

The shield is the defensive arm carried at close quarters, ranging in Scripture from the small buckler to the larger body-shield or "target." It belongs to soldier and king alike, is wrought from wood, bronze, or beaten gold, and is laid up in armory or temple between campaigns. From this concrete piece of equipment Israel's writers reach for one of their most pervasive figures of divine care: Yahweh himself is called the shield of his people.

Kinds of Shields

Different kinds of shields are designated as buckler, shield, and target. The psalmist calls on Yahweh to take up both at once: "Take hold of shield and buckler, And stand up for my help" (Ps 35:2). Ezekiel pictures Gog's host "all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords" (Eze 38:4).

Shields in the Hands of Israel's Kings

Saul's shield falls on Gilboa, and David laments that "there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away, The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil" (2Sa 1:21). The Benjamites are noted bearers of bow and shield: Asa's army included "out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew bows, 280,000: all these were mighty men of valor" (2Ch 14:8), and Jehoshaphat had with him "Eliada a mighty man of valor, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield" (2Ch 17:17). Uzziah equipped the people of Israel with "shields, and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and stones for slinging" (2Ch 26:14). The Gadites who joined David in the wilderness were "men trained for war, who could handle shield and spear; whose faces were like the faces of lions" (1Ch 12:8).

Materials: Bronze, Gold, and Wood

When the Egyptians stripped Solomon's gold shields from the temple precinct, "King Rehoboam made in their stead shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard" (1Ki 14:27). Gold shields appear earlier as spoil and as royal display: David "took the shields of gold that were on the slaves of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem" (2Sa 8:7); Solomon "made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went to one buckler" (1Ki 10:16), and "three hundred shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon" (1Ki 10:17). The Chronicler's parallel reckons three hundred gold shields at "three hundred shekels of gold" each (2Ch 9:15-16). Wooden shields are presupposed in Ezekiel's oracle on Gog, where Israel uses the captured weapons for fuel: "they will make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they will make fires of them seven years" (Eze 39:9-10). Job describes the assault of the wicked against God as a charge "with the thick bosses of his bucklers" (Job 15:26).

Storage: Armories and the House of God

Rehoboam fortified Judah by distributing arms: "in every city he put shields and spears, and made them exceedingly strong" (2Ch 11:12). Hezekiah's wealth included "treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of goodly vessels" (2Ch 32:27), and during Sennacherib's threat he "made weapons and shields in abundance" (2Ch 32:5). Some of these arms were kept in the sanctuary itself. At Joash's coronation Jehoiada the priest "delivered to the captains over hundreds the spears and shields that had been king David's, which were in the house of Yahweh" (2Ki 11:10), the Chronicler adding "the spears, and bucklers, and shields, that had been king David's, which were in the house of God" (2Ch 23:9).

Field Conventions: Covered, Painted, Mustered

Shields were kept covered when not in use; Isaiah's Elam-and-Kir oracle marks the moment of war by saying "Kir uncovered the shield" (Isa 22:6). Nahum sees attackers whose "shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet" (Na 2:3). The summons to battle pairs the two sizes together: "Prepare⁺ the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle" (Jer 46:3).

Shields in the Hellenistic Wars

The same equipment recurs in the wars of the Maccabees. The temple at Elymais was "exceedingly rich: and coverings of gold, and breastplates, and shields which King Alexander, the son of Philip the Macedonian who reigned first in Greece, had left there" (1Ma 6:2). When Antiochus' army marched against Judas, "when the sun shone on the shields of gold, and of brass, the mountains glittered therewith, and they shone like lamps of fire" (1Ma 6:39). Ben Sira knows the shield as the standard image of military strength, and says of giving alms against an enemy: "Better than a mighty shield and a heavy spear Will this avail you against an enemy" (Sir 29:13).

Yahweh as Shield

From this familiar piece of armor the writers of Israel draw their figure for Yahweh's protection. The first such word comes to Abram: "Don't be afraid, Abram: [my Speech is] your shield, [and] your exceedingly great reward" (Ge 15:1). Moses blesses Israel as "a people saved by [the Speech of] Yahweh, The shield of your help, And the sword of your excellency" (De 33:29). David sings, "God, my rock, in him [his Speech] I will take refuge; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge; My savior, you save me from violence" (2Sa 22:3), and again, "You have also given me the shield of your salvation" (2Sa 22:36). The psalter takes up the image repeatedly. Yahweh circles the righteous "with favor as with a shield" (Ps 5:12). He is "my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer ... My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower" (Ps 18:2), and the giver of "the shield of your salvation" (Ps 18:35). He is "our help and our shield" (Ps 33:20), addressed as "O Lord our shield" (Ps 59:11) and "O God our shield" (Ps 84:9). "Yahweh God is a sun and a shield: Yahweh will give grace and glory; No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly" (Ps 84:11). "For our shield belongs to Yahweh; And our king to the Holy One of Israel" (Ps 89:18). Proverbs binds the figure to revelation: "Every word of God is tried: He is a shield to those who take refuge in him" (Pr 30:5).

The Shield of Truth

Beside the shield of God's person stands the shield of God's truth. The psalmist promises the one who shelters in Yahweh: "He will cover you with his pinions, And under his wings you will take refuge: His truth is a shield and a buckler" (Ps 91:4).