Armor-bearer

Armor-bearer [NAVE]

ARMOR-BEARER, an attendant who carried a soldier's equipment. Of Abimelech, Judg. 9:54; Jonathan, 1 Sam. 14:6, 7, 12, 14, 17; Saul, 1 Sam. 16:21; 31:6; Goliath, 1 Sam. 17:7; Joab, 2 Sam. 18:15.

ARMOR-BEARER [ISBE]

ARMOR-BEARER - ar'-mer-bar'-er (nose' keli; Greek uses a phrase, ho airon ta skeue, literally "the one carrying the armor"): One who carried the large shield and perhaps other weapons for a king (1 Sam 31:4), commander-in-chief (2 Sam 23:37), captain (1 Sam 14:7) or champion (1 Sam 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 (Jdg 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 Sam 31:4). David became Saul's armor-bearer for a time, and Jonathan's armor-bearer was a man of resource and courage (1 Sam 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.

T. Nicol.