Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 14:27

"And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king`s house." — 1 Kings 14:27 (ASV)

In their stead. —The notice of this substitution is not only a curious point of accurate detail, but perhaps intended as a symbolic representation of the change which had passed upon Judah, by which only the semblance of its old glory remained, and its "fine gold had become brass."