Note: The word shield. In English the word means something to ward off blows or to guard, protect, or defend (Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Ed.). And it is not that that meaning is totally off base for this verse, but it is certainly inadequate. The Hebrew word used is meginnâh (Strong’s 4043) which is derived from the word gânan (Strong’s 1598). The idea here is far more than just to ward off a blow, it is to hedge about, encompass, to protect and defend. Thus it is far more than what our English translation has rendered it; it is not only warding off a blow but never allowing the blow to reach David in the first place. To do it justice we must say something like David is engulfed by the protective hand of God, nothing can reach him or do him harm. My Geneva Bible uses the word buckler which Spurgeon also comments on. A buckler may actually do it less justice than the word shield as it was a very small round shield (6-18 inches in diameter); which is even smaller than what you would normally associate with a shield. Spurgeon takes the term and applies it to its full meaning with the Hebrew in mind; but, left alone, that term is also inadequate to convey the idea presented here. The ESV, RSV, NASB and NIV all do it the most justice by saying “a shield about/around me.” The Septuagint does it no justice at all by rendering it “my helper”. Cross reference with Ps. 5:12 and especially 18:2 to get a better understanding of what David is conveying here.
“But You, O Lord, are a shield about me”
• […] David employs a language full of confidence, in opposition to the hardihood and profane scoffings of his enemies, and testifies that whatever they may say, he would nevertheless rely upon the word of God. It appears that he had previously entertained an assured hope of deliverance… here making no mention of his present calamity as a chastisement… but rather depending upon the divine aid, he courageously encounters his enemies, who were carrying on an ungodly and wicked war against him. In short, having acknowledged his sin before, he now takes into consideration only the merits of the present cause. And thus it becomes the servants of God to act when molested by the wicked. Having mourned over their own sins, and humbly betaken themselves to the mercy of God, they ought to keep their eyes fixed on the obvious and immediate cause of their afflictions, that they may entertain no doubt of the help of God when undeservedly subjected to evil treatment. Especially when, by their being evil entreated, the truth of God is opposed, they ought to be greatly encouraged, and glory in the assurance that God without doubt will maintain the truth of His own promises against such perfidious and abandoned creatures. […] by comparing God to a shield, he means that he was defended by His power. JC
• Or "about me" protecting and defending me. David was a military man, and often alludes to military affairs; and borrows words from thence, expressive of his great security from the Lord. So Jehovah the Father was a shield to Christ, in His infancy, from Herod's rage and fury; and afterwards from the insults of the Pharisees, and their attempts to take away His life before the time; and in His sufferings and death… the Lord is a shield unto all His people. They are kept by His power, and encompassed about with His favor, as with a shield; His veracity and His faithfulness in His promises, and His truth, are their shield and buckler: and especially His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the shield which faith makes use of, particularly his blood and righteousness, and salvation by Him; which it holds up, and defends itself with, against the charges of the law, the accusations of conscience, and the temptations of Satan; and which are a security from the justice of God, and wrath to come. JG
• See what grace can do! Depend on it, when grace and faith are in lively exercise the more the opposition is made from without, the stronger the comforts will be within. Oh! How blessed is it thus to look upon God. Jehovah in Jesus is a shield to defend, a glory to shine upon, and a lifter to bear up. Christ is all in all. Safety, honor, support, and holy joy! How fully were all these proved in the case of David after the rebellion of Absalom. RH
• Here David avows his confidence in God. Oh! What a shield God is for His people! He wards off the fiery darts of Satan from beneath, and the storms of trials from above, while, at the same instant, he speaks peace to the tempest within the breast. CHS
• [With a] believer, the more he is beaten off from God, either by the rebukes of Providence or the reproaches of enemies, the faster hold he will take of Him and the closer will he cleave to Him; so David here, when his enemies said, There is no hope for him in God, cries out with so much the more assurance, “But thou, O Lord! Art a shield for me; let them say what they will, I am sure thou wilt never desert me, and I am resolved I will never distrust thee.” See what God is to his people: a shield about me… to secure me on all sides, since my enemies surrounded me. MH
“My glory”
• […] he concludes that God was his glory, because He would be the maintainer and defender of the royal dignity which He had been pleased to confer upon him. JC
• Who took David from the sheepfold, and made him king over Israel, and raised him to all the glory he had enjoyed; and in whom he gloried as his covenant God, and of whom he made his boast; and not of his strength, valor, wisdom, riches, and honor. So God the Father is the glory of Christ, the glorifier of Him, by supporting Him under His sufferings, raising Him from the dead, and setting Him at His own right hand, where He is crowned with glory and honor: He is the glory of His people, in whom they glory, and by whom they are called to eternal glory; and who will give it to them, and reveal it in them, even an eternal weight of it, which the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared unto. JG
• David knew that thought he was driven from his capital in contempt and scorn, he should yet return in triumph, and by faith he looks upon God as honoring him and glorifying him. O for grace to see our future glory amid present shame! Indeed, there is a present glory in our afflictions, if we could but discern it; for it is no mean thing to have fellowship with Christ in His sufferings. CHS
• Those whom God owns for His are not safe and easy, but really look great, and have true honor put upon them, far above that which the great ones of the earth are proud of. David was now in disgrace; the crown had fallen from his head; but he will not think the worse of himself while he has God for his glory. Thou art my glory… this is what I aim at, and am ambitious of, whatever my lot is, and whatever becomes of my honor – that I may be to my God for a name and a praise. MH
“The One who lifts up my head”
• Thou shalt yet exalt me. Though I hang my head I sorrow, I shall very soon lift it up in joy and thanksgiving. What a divine trio of mercies is contained in this verse! Defense for the defenseless, glory for the despised, and joy for the comfortless. Verily we may well say, “There is none like the God Jeshurun.” CHS
• Thou wilt lift up my head out of troubles, and restore me to my dignity again, in due time, or, at least, thou wilt lift up my head under my troubles, so that I shall not droop nor be discouraged, nor shall my spirits fail. If, in the worst of times, God’s people can lift up their heads with joy, knowing that all shall work for good to them, they will own it is God that is the lifter of their head, that gives them both cause to rejoice and hearts to rejoice. MH
Personal Summary:
I love the all important point of how God defends us. We aren’t just given some pitiful shield with which to parry the blows of this world. No, He surrounds us in all His might and He is an impenetrable wall. It is not that we deserve His sovereign hand guarding us from the wicked advances of this world, we don’t. But God is faithful where we are not; even when in a situation like David’s, he is faithful. But David didn’t allow himself to wallow in the misery of His sin; he confessed it and moved forward knowing full well that God was more faithful than he and would persevere him until the end. So must we.
What confidence we should have in this world! Imagine for a moment that every saint is walking around with an impenetrable fortress surrounding him, one that would make the famed Ft. Knox look like a sand castle. The wicked have no such fortress, yet they are attacking with vigor as if they do. Yet we know, as David did, that we will be victorious in the end, that whatever happens to us in this world that we will be with God for eternity, that this world is not our home but a temporal resting place on the way to heaven. The wicked don’t understand this which is why they do everything they can to achieve gratification now, and surely they have received their reward. They assail us incessantly; but, as Solomon said in Ec. 9:11-12, “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all. For man also knoweth not his time… so… the sons of men [are] snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.” Their day is come and they have missed the sun on the horizon and into eternal darkness they will plunge; for, when God is no longer patient with this most wicked generation who can stand their ground against Him?
God sustains us, we glory in Him, we seek His glory first and foremost in our lives, in our every action, and God glorifies us (Rom. 8:30). He is our all in all and everything good we have in this life flows from Him. What a wonderful Father we have in heaven, hallowed be His name!
