Psalms 5:11

(11) Rejoice.—From root meaning primarily bright. Proverbs 13:9 : “The light of the righteous rejoiceth.”

Shield.—Heb., tsinnah. The long large shield fit for a giant (1 Samuel 17:7; 1 Samuel 17:41), which could protect the whole body.

Luther, when asked at Augsburg where he should find shelter if his patron, the Elector of Saxony, should desert him, replied, “under the shield of heaven.” The image is finely elaborated in Browning’s Instans Tyrannus:—

“When sudden—How think ye the end?Did I say without friend?Say, rather, from marge to blue marge,The whole sky grew his targeWith the sun’s self for visible boss;While an arm ran acrossWhich the earth heaved beneath like a breastWhere the wretch was safe pressed.Do you see? Just my vengeance complete.The man sprang to his feet.Stood erect, caught at God’s skirts, and prayed—So I was afraid.”