With this song having five verses, this will be a 3 part article. We began, we asked him to be our vision and our wisdom. Now, looking at the 3rd verse, we ask God to ‘be our buckler.’ What is a ‘buckler?’ Realizing this hymn dates back the 750 AD we recognize that terminology and verbiage have changed over the years. But by definition a buckler is simply a shield. We call on God to defend and protect us (the shield), but to also fight for us. The verse, with all the old English continues:
“Be Thou my buckler, my sword for the fight; Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight. Thou my soul’s shelter, Thou my high tower; Raise Thou me heav’nward, O power of my power.”
Perhaps we need to look no further than the words of the preacher as he writes in Proverbs 18 to see the basis for this verse. Or David as he pens the 61st Psalms. Both attest to the strength of the tower, and there we find God’s protection…
“For You have been a refuge for me, a tower of strength against the enemy.” and from Proverbs… “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and is safe.”
So often we missed what’s right in front of us because we don’t see the language of text the author had at his disposal as he wrote this songs/hymns of praise. Taking original English verse (King James) we can see King David’s wording that must have been an inspiration for this Irish Folk Hymn. Recorded are the words of David as it’s written in 2nd Samuel chapter 22… “The God of my rock, in Him will I trust: He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my Savior; Thou savest me from violence…as for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried; He is a buckler to all them that trust in Him.”
We have sung and we have asked (per scripture) for God to be our vision, our wisdom and our protection…in part 3 we’ll conclude this hymn and see how the conclusion of this brings us to an appreciation and High King of Heaven.