Job 39:23

rattleth against him Rather perhaps, upon him. The quiver is that of his rider, the clang of which excites him.

the shield Rather, the javelin, or, lance. The Poet does not seek to describe the actual conflict; it is a picture of the horse that he gives, and the moment before the conflict is that at which the animal's extraordinary attributes are most strongly exhibited. "Although docile as a lamb, and requiring no other guide than the halter, when the Arab mare hears the war-cry of the tribe (cf. Job 39:25), and sees the quivering spear of her rider (cf. Job 39:23), her eyes glitter with fire, her blood-red nostrils open wide, her neck is nobly arched, and her tail and mane are raised and spread out to the wind (cf. Job 39:19). A Bedouin proverb says, that a high-bred mare when at full speed should hide her rider between her neck and her tail" (Layard, Discoveries, p. 330).