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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMcClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Buckler (2)
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stands in the authorized version as the representative of the following Heb. words:
1. îâֵï , magen' (protecting), a smaller and more portable shield (2Sa_22:31; 1Ch_5:18; Job_15:26; Psa_18:2; Psa_18:30; Pro_2:7; Son_4:4; Jer_46:3; elsewhere
“shield”).
2. ñֹçֵøָä , socherah' (from its surrounding the person), occurs but once figuratively Psa_91:4).
3. öִðָּä , tsinnah' (a covering), a large shield protecting the whole body (“ buckler,” Psa_35:2; Eze_23:24; Eze_26:8; Eze_38:4; Eze_39:9; elsewhere “shield” or “target;” the ἀóðßò of Sir_27:5).
4. øֹîִç , ro'mach (from its piercing), a lance or spear (as it is often rendered, improperly “buckler” in 1Ch_12:8). SEE ARMOR.
The buckler or shield was a principal piece of protective armor with ancient warriors, being worn in connection both with the spear and the bow (2Ch_14:8; 2Ch_17:17; Jer_6:23). Of the above names for this implement, the socherah, according to Jahn, designates the targe or round form (see Gesenius, Thes. p. 947). Two others of these terms (combined in Eze_39:9; Jer_46:3) appear to denote respectively the small (nagen) and the large (tsinnah) kind, the latter screening the entire person (Virg. Es. 2:227; Tyrtiei Carm. 2, 23 sq.), as is evident from 1Ki_10:16-17; 2Ch_9:16. The Mishna (Chelim, 24, 1) names three species of shield, the large ( äëôå úøéñ ), the middle, used in discipline, and the small ( ãéöú äòøáééí ). The larger kind probably protected even the head (Josephus, Ant. 6, 5, 1; comp. Diod. Sic. v. 30). In like manner, among the Greeks and Romans a small shield was called èõñåüò ( óÜêïò in Homer), scutum, and a large one ἀóðßò , clypeus (comp. Josephus, War, 3, 5, 5). It is uncertain, however, whether the Heb. shields were of the same form; we only know that the later Jews in the time of the Romans carried oval shields (see Jahn, Archaeol. II, 2, pl. 11, 6, 8; those of the Egyptians being rounded only at the top, Wilkinson, 1, 298 sq.). The word ùֶׁìֶè , she'let, which the old translators give very variously, designates probably the shield, and indeed those used on state occasions (Jer_51:11; Eze_27:11; Son_4:4), rather than quiver. The (larger) shields were generally of wood (comp. Pliny, 16:77; Virg. En. 7, 632), and covered with thick leather (especially hippopotamus hide, Pliny, 8:39; but the skins of other pachydermatous animals are still employed in Africa; see Ruppell, Arab. p. 34; Pallme, Beschreib. von Kordofan, p. 42) or metal. Leather shields (Iliad, v. 452; 12:425) consisted either of simple undressed ox (or elephant) hide (Herod. 7:91; Strabo, 17, p. 820, 828), or of several thicknesses of leather, sometimes also embossed with metal (Iliad, 7, 219 sq.; 12:294 sq.); hence those captured from foes might be burnt
(Eze_39:9). The leather of shields required oiling (2Sa_1:21; Isa_21:5; comp. “laeves clypei,” Virg. AEn. 7, 626), so that they should not injure by moisture; hence they gleamed in the distance; sometimes they were even smeared with blood (Nah_2:4 [?]), so as to present a frightful appearance. Copper (“brazen”) shields were, as it appears (1Sa_17:6; 1Ki_14:27); also in use (comp.
÷áëêáóðßäåò for heavy-armed troops, in Polyb. 4:69, 4; v. 91, 7); as even gold ones in the equipment of the general (1Ma_6:39), i.e. probably studded with gold; although those named in 1Ki_10:16 sq.; 1Ki_14:26, as shields of parade (comp. the silver shields of Pliny, 8:82), borne before the king in festive processions (1Ki_14:28), may well have been of massive metal (comp. the golden shields of the Carthaginians, Pliny, 35:3; on the overlaying of shields [with gold, ivory, etc.], see Athen. 12:534; among the Romans every shield was inscribed with the soldier's name, Veget. Milit. 2, 18). The same custom appears also in the gold shields sent as gifts of honor to Rome (1Ma_14:24; 1Ma_15:18; comp. 1Ma_6:2; Josephus, Ant. 14, 8, 5; Sueton. Calig. 16). During a march the soldiers carried their shields (covered with a leather case, óÜãìá
or ἔëõôñïí , involuera, as a protection from dust, Isa_20:6; comp. the Schol. ad Aristoph. Acharn. 574; Plutarch, Lucull. 26; Caesar, Bell. Gall. 2, 21; Cicero, Nat. Deer. 2, 14) hanging on their shoulder (Iliad, 16, 803); but in the camp by a strap on the left arm (Iliad, 16, 802; Virg. AEn. 2:671 sq.; Pliny, 33:4; AElian, Var. Hist.; 11, 9; hence the phrase ἐð᾿ ἀóðßäá , Xenoph. Cyrop. 7, 5, 6; Arrian, Alex. 1, 6,12, means on the shield side, or left, comp. Anab. 4, 3, 26). See generally Ortlob, De seutis et clypeis Hebr. (Lips. 1718); Caryophilus, De clypeis vett. (Lugd. Bat. 1751); Spanheim, ad Julian, p. 241; Jahn, Archaol. II, 2:401 sq.; on the Homeric shield, Kopke, Kriegswes. der Griech. p. 108 sq. The decoration of the Jewish palaces (1Ki_10:16; 1Ki_14:26; Son_4:4; comp. Philo, Opp. 2, 591) and Temple (1Ma_4:57; 1Ma_6:2; comp. Strabo, 13:600; Arrian, Alex. 6, 9, 6; Pliny, 35:3) with golden shields was a peculiar practice. In the Temple at Jerusalem the shields of David were suspended as mementos (2Ki_10:10); see Rexrath, De clypeis in loco sacro suspensis (Lips. 1737). The suspension of the shields of Tyre in Eze_27:10-11, is a military allusion, by way of ostentation, to the ensigns of foreign nations displayed as allies (see Henderson, Comment. in loc.). SEE SHIELD.