What Does 1 Chronicles 15:29 Mean?
And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul, looking out through a window, saw King David dancing and playing; and she made light of him in her heart.
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
And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looking out at a window saw king David dancing and playing: and she despised him in her heart.THE KEY
David’s name carries “beloved,” while the contempt the verse records belongs to the heart watching his dance.
THE MEANING
The verse shows how a visible act is received through the watcher’s inner valuation: David dances, and Michal’s heart regards him with contempt. His name carries the nature “beloved,” holding belovedness and contempt in the same frame.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that being despised by an observer proves the watched person is contemptible.
THE ROOT
וַתִּבֶז
vatibez
GROWS FROM
ב־ז־ה
b-z-h
To despise, treat as contemptible, or hold in low regard.
“made light of” in this verse is vatibez. The Hebrew verb places Michal’s contempt in her response to what she sees. This root also describes someone being held in contempt, so the word opens a connection between the act of despising and the condition of being despised.
ALSO GROWS
nivzeh: Despised, lowly, or held in contempt.
נִבְזֶה
Isaiah 53:3 uses this form for one who is despised, showing the same root from the side of the person receiving contempt.
bazah: To despise or regard as insignificant.
בָּזָה
Genesis 25:34 uses this verb when Esau despises his birthright; here, too, contempt marks how the watcher values what is before them.
דָּוִד
Dāwīd
GROWS FROM
דּוֹד
d-w-d
Beloved; a beloved one.
The name David carries the nature “beloved.” That meaning sharpens the verse’s tension: the figure whose name holds belovedness is met with contempt from the window.
ALSO GROWS
dodi: My beloved.
דּוֹדִי
The possessive form makes the beloved one personal, echoing the nature carried in David’s name.
dodim: Love, affection, or caresses.
דּוֹדִים
This related form shows the root extending from the beloved person to the affection shared with that person.
בְּלִבָּהּ
belibbāh
GROWS FROM
ל־ב־ב
l-b-b
The inner heart, mind, or seat of intention.
The verse locates the contempt inside Michal, in the heart that interprets the scene. The dance is visible from the window; the valuation belongs to the watcher’s inward self.
ALSO GROWS
lev: Heart; the inner person.
לֵב
This shorter form names the interior where a person’s perceptions and judgments take shape.
levav: Heart, mind, or inward self.
לֵבָב
The fuller form reinforces that “heart” can name the inner center of thought and judgment, not only emotion.
THE PATTERN
The heart that watches supplies its own valuation to what it sees.
But the LORD said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have pushed him away. The LORD does not see as the human sees. The human sees what is outside, but the LORD sees the heart.And some were burdened within themselves, and said, Why has this oil been lost?When the separated one who had invited him saw this, he spoke within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what kind of woman this is who clings to him, for she is one who misses the mark.THE THREAD
And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, leaned out through a window, and saw king David leaping and whirling before the LORD, and she made light of him in her heart.The parallel uses the same root ב־ז־ה (bazah, to despise) in the same scene. The window, the dance, and the contempt in her heart remain together, placing the source of the contempt inside the watcher.
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