l'"or ]iarallcls from European history see art. jEriiTiiAii, vol. ii. p. CU8 a. G. A. Cooke.
SHIELD (or BUCKLER) is EV tr. in OT of the following Heb. words. 1. (Most commonly) 1:9 mdgin, a small round shield, a buckler ; the Gr
* The exact relation between the two sounds is still undeter- mined ; see Ges.-Kautzsch, lUb. Ur. p. SO, D. 2 (Eng. ed.).
498
SHIELD
SHIHOK
dffTrfs and Lat. clipcus. 2. nj? zinndh, a large oval or rectangular shield. 3. n-inb soherdh, ' buckler,' oiil}' in I's 91 [00]*; the word, however, is prob- nbly a |iai ticiple (LXX KvxXJitrei) ; tr. with a slight tnienilalioii, 'His truth is an enconij)assing shield.' 4. [ITS khidn, 'shield,' 1 S 17*' AV, 'target' v.« A\ , siiiiilarlj- LXX ; KV correctly 'javelin.' 5. D'c^;;* s//tVu/iTO, 'shields,'2S8'=lCh 18', 2K 11"' = 2 Ch 23", Ca 4*. Jer 51", Ezk 27" (only in these places, and only in tlie plur.), more correctly ' suits of armour,' Jer 51" KVm (see Expository Times, x. (1898) 4311'.). nhyj/af/fildh, u.sually tr. 'wagon,' means in I's 46° [Heb.'"] perhaps ' shield ' (so LXX, Vulg., Targ.); EV, Jerome (Psalter, iuxta Hch.), Pesliitta, ' chariots.' In the NT ' shield ' occurs once, Eph 6'°, as tr. of Bvpeo!, the large Rom. shield.
1. Material and Construction. — The material of which the shields known to the Hebrews were commonly made can only be inferred. Solomon prepared 200 'targets' (mf, i.e. large shields) and 300 'shields' ([jc, i.e. bucklers), which were either made of gold or else heavily overlaid with gold (1 K 10"''). When these were carried off by Shishak, Relioboam made ' brazen ' (bronze) shields to take their place (ib. 14^-"). The 'shields' found among the treasures of Hezekiah were also probably made of one of the precious metals, or at least adorned with it (2 Ch 32-'').* Both tlie golden shields and the bronze were probably used only for state ceremonial : the war shield was doubtless either like the Roman scutum of leather stretched over a wooden frame, or like the Persian yippov of wickerwork. That shields were largely composed of some inflammable substance may be inferred from such passages as Ezk 39", Ps 46' [45'»] LXX (cf. Is 9' RV). A shield was overlaid with plates, perhaps of bronze (cf. Job 41'^ RVm, where the scales of the crocodile are compared with the plates of a shield) ; it was also furnished with a boss (cf. Job 15^"), such as is shown on the Assyr. reliefs, passim. The Assyr. shields were highly convex and sometimes round, sometimes irregular in shape, i.e. rectangular at the foot (for planting firmly against the ground) but pointed at the top.
2. Use. — The shield was kept in a case wlien not in use (Is 22" ; cf. Aristophanes, Ach. 574, and Euripides, Andr. 617). It was anointed before battle to make its surface slippery (Is 21'; cf. Driver on 2 S P', who quotes Vergil, /En. vii. 626). In battle it sometimes had a ' red ' appear- ance (Nah 2^ l''l), either because it was dyed red (A. B. Davidson, ad toe), or because it was over- laid with burnished copper (Nowack, Ileb. Arcluto- loffie, i. 364), or again because the leather itself might be described as ' red,' cnx 'adorn being apiilied to the colour of the human skin (La 4'). The large shield was much used in siei'es as a stationary screen, from behind which tlie garrison on the walls might be a.ssaileil with arrows (2 K 19'-= Is 37^, Sir 37' Heb.). A large shield was sometimes carried in battle by an attendant in front of his master (1 S 17*' Heb., LXX [A and Luc], Peshitta, a verse om. in LXX B, but probably genuine). In limes of peace shields were hung in armouries, to the admiration of beholders (Ca 4*, Ezk 27'").
3. Metnpliorical use of the term 'shield.' — In the OT God's favour (Ps S^^tisj) and His faithfulness (Ps 91* [90'']) are compared to a shield, cf. ' the shield of thy salvation' (Ps I8*> [17"»]). By a still holder metaphor in several other places God Himself i.s called the 'shield' (p^) of His people or of His saints: Gn 15', Dt 3.'!=s, Pa 33 HJ 182- »" [17'- "1 33 [32]=" 59" [58'=] 849" [SS'"- '=] 115"-'" [113"''-']. Pr 2' 30* [24'^]. In all these pa.ssages the LXX tr. p? either by v-n-epaainaTTii (once Ps 3* by ivTiXriin-trTbip) or by some form of the verb uitp- affrlfui. The Peshitta follows a sinnlar course. It
* But lee note ad luc. in the Camb. Bible.
is true that p? taken as Hiphil partic. of pj is ■
Sossible nomcn arjcntis, but it is probable that tha leb. metaphor was too bold for the Gr. and Syr. translators. Thus in Ps 84" [83'-] the Heb. and Aq. give ' The Lord is a sun and shield,' while tha LXX (followed by the Vulg.) timidly paraphrases fXeoK <cai oKijBeiav ayairi^ Ki'pios. Symm. (if rightly given in Field) is also timid, f[Kiov yap xai iirepaa- iriaiihii Kt>/)ios (a transitive verb, probably iiiaa from the next clause, being understood). Jerome (Psalter, iuxta. Hch. ) gives ' Sol et scutum Dominus' here, and 'clipeus' in some other places quoted above, but in Ps 59" I'^l 115»-" "'-'»i he has 'pro- tector' ( = iiTrepocrTiffT^s). Ben Sira (i,l'*=('°l Heb.) writes, 'Give thanks to the fllitii cl Abraham' (in allusion to Gn 15').