302. Small Golden Shields

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 8
Listen from:
1 Kings 10:17. He made three hundred shields of beaten gold: three pounds of gold went to one shield.
These shields were of a smaller size than those referred to in the sixteenth verse. The Hebrew magen is in some places rendered “buckler” (2 Sam. 22:31; 2 Chron. 23:9) and, on the other hand, buckler is sometimes the rendering of tsinnah. See note on 1 Samuel 17:7 (#253). While, however, the two words are thus interchanged by the translators, there was an essential difference in the size and weight of the two objects represented by them. The tsinnah, in verse 16, was for heavy troops, and was large enough to protect the entire person; while the magen, in this verse, was a shield which only protected a part of the person, could be carried on the arm, and was used by light troops. See also 2 Chronicles 9:16.