Shields and Fire Extinguishers – Part 1
In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one [Ephesians 6:16].
In my humble opinion, one of the best historical movies of all time has to be Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart”. It doesn’t get any better than this. Gibson is astounding in his portrayal of the Scot William Wallace.
The timeline is the late 1200s A.D. in Scotland. England to the south is ruled by King Edward I. King Eddie marched into Scotland and conquered the land. He proceeded to dole out portions of the real estate to his nobles. That way they were obliged to him and he strengthened his hold on the throne.
A vulgar legal manipulation allowed for the English nobles in Scotland to violate the sanctity of the marriage bed, in direct violation of the Word of God. According to this law, any Scottish lass who got married in a noble’s domain belonged to the ruling noble on her wedding night. The noble was legally entitled to steal her virginity. Her husband was powerless to say no to the sordid ordeal.
Understandably, this didn’t sit too well with the Scottish folk. Some of the Scottish elders met in secret and decided that war with England was unavoidable. William Wallace was but a small boy at the time, so he didn’t participate. His father did though, and he and the entire family paid for it with their lives, William alone excepted.
When he grew up, William returned to his family property. He had been staying with relatives who raised him. At the family farm he met his childhood girlfriend, and soon they married. Alas, but the infamous sordid legal maneuver was set in motion by the reigning noble of the area, who insisted on having William Wallace’s bride for himself on the wedding night.
The village folk sided with William and attacked the noble’s compound. In the end William’s bride was killed and William became the military genius of a marauding guerrilla group of Scottish rebels. Whereas William covered his face with blue coloring and was highly successful against the English troops, he acquired the name “Braveheart”, an epithet endearing to the hearts of his fellow Scots who loved his sacrifice on their behalf.
I was reminded of this movie when I read the Bible verse for today. The warfare of that period employed flaming arrows and shields in the battle strategy. One scene in “Braveheart” had the opposing armies (English vs. Scots) on the open battlefield. The archers were behind the foot soldiers, who formed the vanguard.
To loosen up the opposing army and prepare the way for the foot soldiers, the archers shot their flaming arrows over the heads of the foot soldiers smack dab into the center of the opposing army. As a counter measure against these flaming arrows dropping from the sky onto their heads, the opposing army situated their shields above their heads like umbrellas.
We will continue with the Bible verse in our next study. For now we would be blessed to go to Jesus. He is calling us to come apart with Him for a while. See you on the morrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
In my humble opinion, one of the best historical movies of all time has to be Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart”. It doesn’t get any better than this. Gibson is astounding in his portrayal of the Scot William Wallace.
The timeline is the late 1200s A.D. in Scotland. England to the south is ruled by King Edward I. King Eddie marched into Scotland and conquered the land. He proceeded to dole out portions of the real estate to his nobles. That way they were obliged to him and he strengthened his hold on the throne.
A vulgar legal manipulation allowed for the English nobles in Scotland to violate the sanctity of the marriage bed, in direct violation of the Word of God. According to this law, any Scottish lass who got married in a noble’s domain belonged to the ruling noble on her wedding night. The noble was legally entitled to steal her virginity. Her husband was powerless to say no to the sordid ordeal.
Understandably, this didn’t sit too well with the Scottish folk. Some of the Scottish elders met in secret and decided that war with England was unavoidable. William Wallace was but a small boy at the time, so he didn’t participate. His father did though, and he and the entire family paid for it with their lives, William alone excepted.
When he grew up, William returned to his family property. He had been staying with relatives who raised him. At the family farm he met his childhood girlfriend, and soon they married. Alas, but the infamous sordid legal maneuver was set in motion by the reigning noble of the area, who insisted on having William Wallace’s bride for himself on the wedding night.
The village folk sided with William and attacked the noble’s compound. In the end William’s bride was killed and William became the military genius of a marauding guerrilla group of Scottish rebels. Whereas William covered his face with blue coloring and was highly successful against the English troops, he acquired the name “Braveheart”, an epithet endearing to the hearts of his fellow Scots who loved his sacrifice on their behalf.
I was reminded of this movie when I read the Bible verse for today. The warfare of that period employed flaming arrows and shields in the battle strategy. One scene in “Braveheart” had the opposing armies (English vs. Scots) on the open battlefield. The archers were behind the foot soldiers, who formed the vanguard.
To loosen up the opposing army and prepare the way for the foot soldiers, the archers shot their flaming arrows over the heads of the foot soldiers smack dab into the center of the opposing army. As a counter measure against these flaming arrows dropping from the sky onto their heads, the opposing army situated their shields above their heads like umbrellas.
We will continue with the Bible verse in our next study. For now we would be blessed to go to Jesus. He is calling us to come apart with Him for a while. See you on the morrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
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