- Name 38 of 70My Buckler
- HebrewMagen
- In plain wordsMy shield, the protector who moves with me
- Where to find itPsalm 18:2 and 18:30, David's song of deliverance
My buckler is one of the names David gave God in Psalm 18:2, and it pictures a small round shield held in a soldier's hand. A buckler was not a wall. It was light and quick, swung up to meet a sword or spear inches from your body. When David called God his buckler, he meant God had been right there in the fight with him, taking the blows that should have landed on him.
Where the shield picture began
David was not the first to hear God described this way. The picture goes back to Abram, long before there was a nation of Israel. In Genesis 14, Abram led a small group of trained men on a night raid to rescue his nephew Lot, who had been carried off by four kings. He won, and he brought everyone home. Then he did something bold: he refused to keep any of the riches the king of Sodom offered him, so that no one could ever say a man had made him rich (Genesis 14:23).
That left Abram with powerful enemies behind him and no reward in his hands. That is when God spoke to him in a vision.
After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
Genesis 15:1
This is the first time the words "fear not" appear in the King James Bible, and they come paired with a shield. The Hebrew word for shield here is the same one David would later use for his buckler.
A soldier who knew what a shield was for
David carried a shield for much of his life. He fought the Philistines as a young officer under Saul, and later he led Israel's army as king. He knew the sound of a blade hitting wood and leather, and how fast you had to move. So when he wrote his great song of thanks after God rescued him from Saul and from his other enemies, the shield went straight into his list: my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower
(Psalm 18:2).
Then, about halfway through the song, he came back to it and gave the reason he trusted it.
As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
Psalm 18:30
The word tried is a word from metalwork. Gold and silver were tried, or tested, in fire to burn out what was false. A soldier needed to know his shield would not split on the first hard hit. David says God's word has already been through the fire and held. Then he opens the promise wider than himself. God is a buckler to all who trust in Him, not only to kings.
Magen: the Hebrew word behind buckler
The Hebrew word is magen (say it "mah-GANE"). Strong's dictionary, a standard word list for the King James Bible, describes it as a shield, the small one or buckler, and in a figurative sense, a protector. It comes from a root word that means to defend or to put a protective cover around something.
Hebrew also had a word for a big shield, the tsinnah. That was a large shield that could cover most of a man's body. A great warrior might have a man walk in front of him carrying it. When Goliath came out to fight, the Bible says one bearing a shield went before him
(1 Samuel 17:7).
The magen was different. It stayed in your own hand. It moved when you moved. That is the picture David chose for God in Psalm 18:2: not a protector standing far off, but One close enough to answer every strike.
One small note so you are not confused when you read your Bible. The King James translators did not always use English words the same way. In Psalm 35:2, for example, buckler stands for the big shield. And the same song of David appears in 2 Samuel 22, where verse 3 uses the plain word shield for the very spot where Psalm 18:2 says buckler. The English changes, but in Psalm 18 the Hebrew is the small hand shield.
Key King James verses about God the buckler and shield
Once you start looking, the shield shows up across the Old Testament, often at moments of fear.
But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
Psalm 3:3
The heading of Psalm 3 says David wrote it while running from his own son Absalom, who had turned the nation against him. People were saying God would never help him now. David answers with the shield, and two verses later he says he lay down and slept (Psalm 3:5).
He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
Proverbs 2:7
Here the buckler is tied to everyday honesty. To walk uprightly means to live straight, without tricks. God stores up good sense for people like that and guards them.
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
Psalm 28:7
Notice the order: trust, then help, then joy, then a song. The shield is not the end of the story. The end is praise.
Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
Proverbs 30:5
Like Psalm 18:30, this verse puts God's word and God's shield side by side. What He says can be trusted, and so can He.
Holding up the buckler in your own battles
Most of the fights you face will not involve swords. They come as hard words, sudden bad news, temptations you did not see coming, or thoughts in your own head that say you are worthless or that God has given up on you. Those hits come fast and close, which is exactly the kind of fight a buckler was made for.
Abram's fear came right after he did the right thing. That still happens. You tell the truth, you walk away from a bad crowd, you turn down easy money, and then you lie awake wondering what it will cost. The answer God gave Abram is the same one He gives you: fear not, I am your shield.
- Pick one verse from this page and learn it by heart, so it is in your hand when a hard moment comes.
- When a cruel or hopeless thought hits you, answer it out loud with what God has said instead of letting it sink in.
- If dark thoughts become heavy, tell a parent, pastor, counselor or doctor today. God often protects us through people.
- Be a shield for someone else. Speak up for the person everyone is picking on.
In Psalm 18:2 the buckler sits between my fortress and my deliverer and my high tower, the next name in the book. Psalm 84:11 pairs the shield with the sun, which you can read about on the Sun and Shield page, and the names of God and their meanings page lists them all.
