The shields of gold were presumably for the use of the royal bodyguard (see on ch. 9:16), and the shields of brass were now committed into the hands of the chief of the guard. The word for “guard,” raṣim, literally means, “runners.” It is translated “footmen” in 1 Sam. 22:17, and the phrase in which it appears is rendered “men to run” in 1 Kings 1:5. In each instance the men referred to seem to have belonged to the bodyguard.