What Does 1 Chronicles 10:13 Mean?
So Saul died for his breach against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he did not guard, and also for asking counsel of one who speaks out of the ground, seeking from it.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it;THE KEY
Saul’s refusal to guard the LORD’s word and his seeking counsel from a medium are presented as one breach of allegiance.
THE MEANING
Saul’s death is explicitly tied to his breach: he does not guard the LORD’s word, and he seeks counsel from a medium. The verse speaks now by exposing these as a single divided allegiance: what the reader refuses to keep and the alternative voice sought belong to the same choice.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief undone is that seeking forbidden counsel is separate from ignoring the LORD’s word; the verse joins them under the same breach.
THE ROOT
מַעַל
ma'al
GROWS FROM
מעל
To act unfaithfully; to breach a trust.
The word carries the sense of a breach in allegiance, not merely a mistake. The verse repeats the same root in “which he committed,” emphasizing the breach Saul enacts against the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
ma'al: To act unfaithfully or commit a breach.
מָעַל
This verbal form appears in the clause “which he committed,” tying the named transgression to an act of betrayal.
ma'al: A trespass or breach of trust.
מַעַל
This noun form shows the breach as a rupture of an entrusted relationship, the force carried by “transgression” here.
שָׁמַר
shamar
GROWS FROM
שמר
To guard, watch over, or keep.
“did not guard” in this verse is shamar. English “kept” can sound like simple compliance, while shamar evokes guarding what is entrusted. Saul leaves the LORD’s word unguarded while actively seeking counsel elsewhere.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: A keeper, guard, or watchman.
שֹׁמֵר
The watchman branch makes the guarding sense concrete: keeping the word means watching over it.
mishmeret: A charge, guard duty, or watch.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch presents keeping as an entrusted responsibility, sharpening the force of “which he kept not.”
לִדְרֹשׁ
lidrosh
GROWS FROM
דרש
To seek, inquire, or consult.
Darash is active seeking, not merely asking a passing question. The verse shows Saul directing that seeking toward the medium after failing to guard the LORD’s word.
ALSO GROWS
darash: To seek, inquire, or consult.
דָּרַשׁ
This verb names the directed search for counsel in the verse.
midrash: An inquiry or exposition.
מִדְרָשׁ
This related word preserves the sense of seeking into a matter, illuminating the purposeful quality of Saul’s enquiry.
THE PATTERN
A person’s allegiance shows in what they guard as authoritative and where they seek direction.
Or one who binds bindings, or one who asks the familiar spirit, or one who knows, or one who seeks the dead.Lean your full weight upon the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, perceive him, and he straightens your paths.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
You shall guard closely the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has commanded you.The same root, שָׁמַר (shamar, guard or keep), appears in both verses. Deuteronomy’s “diligently keep” makes the contrast with “which he kept not” vivid: the word is something entrusted to be guarded.
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