Psalm 3-- A Meditation on Verse 3

"But You, O Lord, are a shield about me-- my glory, Who lifts up my head."

After the bleak beginning of Psalm 3, the poet, King David, recovers his hope by thinking on God.  Turning to God, he acknowledges God as his source of protection from the multitude that seeks to destroy him.

He describes the Lord as "a shield." Without any serious doubt, we know that what King David is referring to is the typical battle implement seen everywhere throughout the ancient Near East.  These ancient shields took two forms: an older elongated style that covered the warrior from ankles to face, and a newer style, which was round and only large enough to cover the torso. King David seems to have the older style in mind.  Both styles were supported on the defender's arm (his left).  The arm was then raised in order to block an adversary's blows.  The Lord as a "shield about me" testifies to the Lord's ability and willingness to parry the blows of the Enemy.  In a moral sense, this means that it is God Himself Who limits and mitigates our temptations (just as a shield lessens the energy of the blows of an adversary).  He lessens, limits and mitigates our temptations so that they are within the limits of our strength.

But the second part of the paired phrases suggests that the Holy Spirit intends something more.  The second part declares the Lord to be: "My glory, Who lifts up my head." It is hard to say how this fits with the first part of the pairing, but it makes us think of the other typical use of the ancient shield.  In the ancient Near East, those who had fallen in battle were lifted up and carried in honour on their shields.  It was the dead, whose side was victorious, who were borne aloft on their shields.  They were borne in such a way so that their heads were high, as if they were seated in triumph.

The dead are impervious to further attack.  There is nothing more that the Adversary can do to them.

Those who share the identity of Christ in Baptism have been baptized into the death of Christ.  St. Paul tells us explicitly that the Law has no jurisdiction over those who are dead.

The Lord not only mitigates and limits the strength of the blows of the Enemy against His Chosen Ones, He also offers them ultimate safety and protection through the death of His Christ.  We only have to claim that inheritance that is freely offered to us by conforming ourselves to Him, Who was crucified for our sake.