1 Samuel 17:5

5 And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clothed with a coat of mail of scales; and the weight of the coat of mail was five thousand shekels of brass.

1 Samuel 17:5 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 17:5

And he had an helmet of brass upon his head
This was a piece of armour, which covered the head in the day of battle; these were usually made of the skins of beasts, of leather, and which were covered with plates of iron, or brass; and sometimes made of all iron, or of brass ^F7; as this seems to have been:

and he was armed with a coat of mail;
which reached from the neck to the middle, and consisted of various plates of brass laid on one another, like the scales of fishes ^F8, so close together that no dart or arrow could pierce between:

and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass:
which made one hundred and fifty six pounds and a quarter of zygostatic or avoirdupois weight; and therefore he must be a very strong man indeed to carry such a weight. So the armour of the ancient Romans were all of brass, as this man's; their helmets, shields, greaves, coats of mail, all of brass, as Livy says ^F9; and so in the age of the Grecian heroes ^F10.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Vid. Lydium "de re militari": l. 3. c. 5. p. 63.
F8 "----Rutilum thoraca indutus anis Horrebat squamis----" Virgil. Aeneid. l. 11.
F9 Hist. l. 1. c. 22.
F10 Pausan. Messenica, l. 3. p. 163. So Homer frequently describes the Grecians with a coat of mail of brass.

1 Samuel 17:5 In-Context

3 And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side; and there was a valley between them.

4 And a man named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span, came out of the camp of the Philistines and stood between the two camps.

5 And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clothed with a coat of mail of scales; and the weight of the coat of mail was five thousand shekels of brass.

6 And he had greaves of brass upon his legs and a shield of brass between his shoulders.

7 And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron, and one bearing a shield went before him.