XXar-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 Sauls 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 Sauls armor-bearer for a time, and Jonathans 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.