In the one passage of the NT in which ' shield ' occurs, the word is metaphorically applied to Christian faith (Eph 6'° avaXa^ovra rbv dvpeiv t^i Tlareiiis, sumentes scutum fdci). In 1 Th 5' the apostle had urged his converts to put on OihpaKo. ttIotcus Ka.1 ayaiTTii, ' a coat of mail of faith and love ' (see Brea.stplate) ; but during his Roman imprisonment his imagination was struck with tho great Roman shield, and he changed his metaphor, without, however, abandoning the thought that faith is the Christian's vital defence. In the OT (Ps 91 [90] ■*) God's faithfulness is man's shield ; in the NT the identification of faith with the shield gives us the neces.sary complementary thought that on man's side faith is needed in order that God's proH'ered protection may be embraced.
AV. Emeky Barnes. SHIGGAION, SHIGIONOTH.— See art. Psalms, p. 154" f.
SHIHOR (Tn-?', nin-.;>, -ins). — A word meaning ' black ' or ' turbid.' from inyi to be black (Ca 1').
1. In 1 Ch 13' Shihor of Egypt (iipia .Kiyinrrou ; Sihor jEgypti) and the entering in of Hamath are mentioned as the southern and northern liuiits of the kingdom of Israel in the time of David. The same (or similar) limits recur in 1 K 8"°, where ' the wady (nahal) of Egypt' takes the place of 'Shilior of Egypt.' In Jos 13' (^ doki;Tos i) Kara Trpojunrou kiyviTTov, fluvius turbidus) the southern limit of the land that had not been conquered when Joshua was grown old is said to have oeen 'the Shihor which is before Egypt,' and the northern one was the entering in of Hamath (v.'). El.sewhere the S.W. limit of the Promised Land is ' the wAdy of Egj'pt': Nu 34= »; cf. Ezk 47"'--'' 48'- *■ », and see Egypt (River of). The southern boundaiy of Judah, also, which corresponded with that of the Promised Land, ' went out at the wfldy (nahal) of Egypt, and the goings out of tht border were at the sea* (Jos 15*). In the same chapter (v.*') the territory of Judah is said to have extended ' unto the wiidy of Egypt and the great sea.' In each of the above passages the tiahal referred to as forming the southern boundary of the Promised Laud is the same, and it must have been a well-known and well-defined feature. Such a feature is found in the Wiidy el-'Arish, which, with its many branches, drains nearly the whole of the desert ct-Tih. The ' nahal of Egyi)t ' (2 K 24', Is 27'^) and the ' iroTo/xiSs of Egvpt' (Jth 1') are also of course the Wddy el-'Aris)i. In Isaiah the LXX reads 'VivoKopovpuiv, now el-'Arish. Whether, however, this is the same as the Shihor is disputed. It is so taken by some (e.g. Knobcl, Keil, Konig [Fitnf neue arab. Landschaftsnamcn im AT, 1902, p. 37]), but Del. (Farad. 311) and Dillm. regard it as the easternmost or Pelusiac arm of the Nile ; while, according to Brugsch [Steininschrift u. Bibclwort, 153], it is Shi-Uor, or tlie ' Horus canal,' mentioned in lists of the Ptolemaic period as flowing by th« border-city of Thiru or Tar (see under Shur).
SHIIIOK-LIBNATH
SllILull
499
2. Shihor is certainly the Nile in 'the seed of Shihor' (Is 23^ a-ripiia /lerapSXuv [inr confused with inD ; see vv.'- ">], A'ihis) ; and in ' the waters of Shilior' (Jer 2" Coup I'ljiii' {aqtia turbula)).
C. \V. Wilson.
SHIHOR -LIBNATH (n:?V ■'^iT; B 7<? Ztiiov kq! Aa^iivaO, A ZaC^p k. A. ; Sichor et Lahnnrith). — A natural feature near, and ajiparently to the south of, Carniel, to which the territory of Asher ex- tended (Jos 19™). Eusebius and Jerome (Onoin.) take Shihor and Libnath to be two distinct places ; but modem commentators consider Shihor-libnatli to be a river. Tlie meaning of Libnath is ' white,' and some autlioritica have taken tlie words to mean ' the glass river,' whicli they identify with the Belus (Plin. v. 19), — now the ^ahr Na'm/ln, — a little south of Acre. The IJelus, however, is to the north of Carmcl, whilst the boundary of Asher included Dor (Joa IT"), which lay to the soutli. The Shihorlibnath wjus most probably the Nahr ez-Zerl:a, which has been identilied with the river Crocodeilon (of Ptolemy, v. xv. 5, xvi. 2 ; Plinj', V. 19) — the southern boundary, according to Pliny, of Phoenicia (so Keil, Dillmann, et al.). Hhihor, one of the names of the NUe (Is 23', Jer 2"), may liave been given to this river because there were crocodiles in it; — they are still found in the Nahr ez-Zerka.
C. VV. Wilson'.
8HIKKER0N (pi??'; B ZoKX'ie, A ' A.KKapuv6. ; Si'c/inina). — A place on the northern boundary of Judah, mentioned between Ekron and Mount Baalali, the next place westward being Jabneel (Jos 15"). The Targum has the form Shimron, Eusebius (Onom.) Saxupai', Jerome (Onon.) Harho- rona. The site is unknown (so Dillm.). Tobler {Drit. Wand. p. 25) identilied it with Khitrhet Sukercir ; but this place lies between Jabneel {Yehnah) and Aslidod {Esdiid), and is about 4 miles south-west of Jabneel. C. W. Wilson.
SHILHI (•n^5i; BA in 2 Chron. ZaXd, B in 1 Kings le/Kel, A in 1 Kings ZaXaKd, Luc. in both 2(\fti). — Father of king Asa's wife Azubah, who was queen-mother in the reign of Jehosha])hat (1 K 22«, 2 Ch 20"). It is unusual for the queen- mother's father to be named in the summaries of the earliest reigns. Besides Shilhi, Ahsahjm (1 K 1.5, Abishalom) and (2 K 8'»- =") Ahab (or Omri) are the only certain cases.