ARMOR-BEARER. The tr. of the phrase (נֹשֵׂא כֵלִים) “bearer of arms,” a term which describes the personal servants who carried additional weapons for the commanders of Israel’s armies. They are mentioned some eighteen times in the OT. Armor-bearers accompanied Abimelech (Judg 9:54); Jonathan (1 Sam 14:7-17); King Saul (1 Sam 16:21; 31:4-6); and Joab (2 Sam 18:15; 23:37; 1 Chron 11:39). Another of their duties was to slay those wounded in the onslaught of their masters. While the chieftains threw the heavy javelins and shot the arrows, the armor-bearers used clubs and thick swords to dispatch the enemy wounded. Several kings of Israel were either killed by them or pleaded with their own armor-bearers to kill them. They seem to be rendered unnecessary after the chariot was introduced. They are no longer mentioned after the time of King David.