Armor-Bearer

ar´mẽr -bâr´ẽr ( נשׂא כּלי , nōsē' kelı̄ ; Greek uses a phrase, ὁ αἴρων τὰ σκεύη , ho aı́rōn tá skeúē , literally "the one carrying the armor"): One who carried the large shield and perhaps other weapons for a king (1 Samuel 31:4 ), commander-in-chief (2 Samuel 23:37 ), captain (1 Samuel 14:7 ) or champion (1 Samuel 17:7 ). All warriors of distinction had such an attendant. Rather than perish by the hand of a woman, Abimelech called upon his armor-bearer to give him the finishing stroke (Judges 9:54 ), and when King Saul's armor-bearer refused to do this office for him that he might not become the prisoner of the Philistines, he took a sword himself and fell upon it (1 Samuel 31:4 ). David became Saul's armor-bearer for a time, and Jonathan's armor-bearer was a man of resource and courage (1 Samuel 14:7 ). The shield-bearer was a figure well known in the chariots of Egypt and Assyria and the Hittites, his business being to protect his fighting companion during the engagement.

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