Step Behind the Shield

My nephew and I were playing catch in the backyard the other day. We had a fuzzy ball and two round paddles with some sort of Velcro-type material stretched across to ensure that if the ball gets anywhere near your hand, it's sure to stay. 

It's a fun game, one I myself enjoyed when I was four, but it wasn't long before my imaginative little opponent decided something else would be even more fun. 

"I know!" he cried, holding up his velcro-paddle, "Let's play shields!" 

He then proceeded to rattle off a series of simple statements which turned out to be a set of very complicated rules. --After all, when you let a four-year-old make up the rules, they are subject to frequent and unannounced change. But basically, we pretended to "blast" one another, while using our "shields" to protect us from our adversary's blast. And somehow, he always happened to win...

The next day, I came across a verse that mentioned a shield:

"Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him" (Proverbs 30:5)

As Christians, we know that God is our shield. There are lots of verses that talk about God being our refuge, our fortress, our shield, basically our protector in every sense. But what stood out to me about this verse is the first phrase. How does God's word being pure connect to the thought that God is our shield? 

Well, the first connection that springs to mind is the fact that God's Word is His Word. It is an extension of Himself. He Himself is our shield, but His Word is a part what He uses to shield us. 

I did a quick search on the word "shield" in the Bible, and found this verse:

"He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler." (Psalm 91:4)

Notice that it said that God was the One who would be giving that protective cover, but His truth would be both shield and buckler. I think we all know what a shield is: it's something that protects, that intercepts an attack that otherwise would harm. I looked up "buckler" in my 1828 Webster's dictionary and found the following definition: 

"Buckler: A kind of shield, or piece of defensive armor, anciently used in war. It was composed of wood, or wickers woven together, covered with skin or leather, fortified with plates of brass or other metal, and worn on the left arm. On the middle was an umbo, boss or prominence, very useful in causing stones and darts to glance off. The buckler was four feet long, and covered the whole body."*

I'm no Hebrew scholar, but I was intrigued by the use of these two words which appear to mean the same thing. I looked up both words in my Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, and found that, while it is appropriate to translate either word as both "shield" or "buckler", the two words are actually very different, indeed. 

The word translated "shield" meant to protect "as if guarding by prickliness", (think hedgehog) while the word translated "buckler" meant, "something surrounding the person. i.e. shield, buckler." 

The word translated "shield" in Proverbs 30:5 was yet another word for shield, but in the manner of "the scaly hide of the crocodile". 

This information gives us an even deeper look at how God's Word protects. As an extension of God our Protector, it is tough and impenetrable, like a scaly crocodile hide. Its truth protects us both by offensively "prickling" up to keep the enemy at a distance, and by defensively surrounding us with its defenses to keep the enemy's attacks from touching us, no matter which angle his forces bombard. 

This reminds me of Ephesians 6:16.

"Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."  

Now, you might not see how this is related, since it is faith that is called the shield in this passage, and because the Word of God is included in this list as "the sword of the Spirit" in the very next verse. The connection comes when we remember Romans 10:17, which says, 

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God"

The foundation of the faith which quenches the fiery darts of the wicked is the Word of God itself. According to Strongs, the Greek word used here means "a large shield (as door-shaped)." Think of yourself surrounded by a shield that is tough, prickly, and specially designed to guard the door of your heart by quenching even the most destructive dart Satan could throw. 

And as Proverbs 30:5 reminds us, the purity and truth of God's Word is the bedrock on which that foundation rests. Because God's Word is true, we can trust what it says: because we can trust what it says, we can trust in the God it proclaims. Our trust then prompts us to yield ourselves to His protection, to step behind the shield.

So, dear reader, what are you waiting for? Open your Bible. 

Step behind the shield. 

*Webster, Noah. American Dictionary of the English Language. New York: S. Converse, 1828.