What Does 1 Chronicles 11:22 Mean?
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a man of strength of Kabzeel, who had done many deeds, struck down two lionlike men of Moab. He also went down and struck a lion in the midst of a pit in the time of snow.
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
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many acts; he slew two lionlike men of Moab: also he went down and slew a lion in a pit in a snowy day.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for lion sits inside the name given to Moab’s champions and returns for the lion in the pit, making one image carry both threats.
THE MEANING
Benaiah strikes down the two lionlike men and then descends into the pit to strike the lion. You see human force and animal danger meet him in one scene, and neither threat has the final word.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a threat with the shape or strength of a lion is unbeatable: both the lionlike men and the actual lion are overcome.
THE ROOT
אֲרִיאֵל
ʾariʾel
GROWS FROM
ארי
Lion; this is the lion element in אֲרִיאֵל, the term rendered “lionlike men” here.
“lionlike men” in this verse is ʾariʾel. The lion word sits inside the Hebrew label for the champions and returns in the next clause for the beast in the pit. One image names human force and animal danger, so the second encounter echoes the first.
ALSO GROWS
ʾari: lion
אֲרִי
The verse uses this word again for the lion in the pit, linking the animal directly to the lion element in the champions’ name.
ʾarayot: lions
אֲרָיוֹת
The plural retains the same consonants, showing the lion image can name both one beast and a group.
יָרַד
yārad
GROWS FROM
ירד
To go down or descend.
“went down” in this verse is yārad. Benaiah does not merely approach the danger; the verse places him descending into its confined setting. The same root also forms a verb meaning “bring down,” holding descent and downward force within one word family.
ALSO GROWS
yārad: went down, descended
יָרַד
This is the movement the verse gives Benaiah as he enters the pit.
hôrîd: brought down
הוֹרִיד
This form shares the root and shows its related sense of causing something to move downward.
THE PATTERN
The visible force of a lion or enemy can be confronted and overcome.
Your servant struck both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, since he has taunted the ranks of the living God.On the lion and the adder you tread; the young lion and the serpent you trample.My God sent his messenger, and shut the lions' mouths, so that they have not harmed me, for before him cleanness was found in me, and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.THE THREAD
Your servant struck both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, since he has taunted the ranks of the living God.The Hebrew word for lion appears here too: David says he has struck both the lion and the bear. That repeated word makes the predator a shared measure of courage, while this passage sharpens the image by placing the lion inside a pit.
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