Armor-Bearer

(נשׁ כֵלִים, nose’ kelim’), an officer selected by kings and generals from the bravest of their favorites, whose service it was not only to bear their armor, but to stand by them in danger and carry their orders, somewhat after the manner of adjutants in modern service. (Jdg 9:54; 1Sa 16:21; 1Sa 31:4.)

ar´mẽr-bâr´ẽr (נשׂא כּלי, nōsē’ k^elı̄; 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 (1Sa 31:4), commander-in-chief (2Sa 23:37), captain (1Sa 14:7) or champion (1Sa 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 (1Sa 31:4). David became Saul’s armor-bearer for a time, and Jonathan’s armor-bearer was a man of resource and courage (1Sa 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.

.

A young man who carried a

soldier’s weapons.