What Does 1 Chronicles 15:8 Mean?
Of the sons of Elizaphan; Shemaiah the head, and his brothers, two hundred.
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
Of the sons of Elizaphan; Shemaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred:THE KEY
Shemaiah’s name means “Yah hears,” and he stands at the head of two hundred brothers: leadership sounds like attentive hearing within a gathered people.
THE MEANING
Shared work takes shape through real distinctions: one is named as chief, and two hundred brothers stand with him. Shemaiah’s name carries the meaning “Yah hears,” placing hearing at the head of a gathered community.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The chief is the whole company. After naming him, the verse counts two hundred brothers beside him.
THE ROOT
שְׁמַעְיָה
Shemaʿyah
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, heed, respond
The name joins יָהּ (Yah, a short form of the divine name) with שָׁמַע (shamaʿ, hear or heed), and can be heard as “Yah hears.” At the head of two hundred brothers, the roster lets attentive hearing frame leadership, though it does not tell us what Shemaiah does.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: Hear, listen, heed
שָׁמַע
This is the root carried by Shemaiah’s name; in the connected verse, hearing becomes an answer.
shemuʿah: Report, tidings; something heard
שְׁמוּעָה
The same root can name what is heard, joining attentive listening with the message received.
הַשַּׂר
ha-sar
GROWS FROM
שרר
Rule, exercise authority
“head” in this verse is ha-sar. שַׂר (sar, chief or ruler) belongs to the root שרר (sarar, rule). The verse names an office of authority, then keeps the two hundred brothers visible beside it: the chief is part of a community, not its replacement.
ALSO GROWS
sar: Chief, ruler, official
שַׂר
This is the title given to Shemaiah, marking his place within the gathered group.
misrah: Rule, dominion
מִשְׂרָה
This related word makes the authority carried by “chief” audible as an office of rule.
אֱלִיצָפָן
ʾElitsaphan
GROWS FROM
צפן
Hide, store away, treasure
“Elizaphan” in this verse is ʾElitsaphan. The name joins אֵל (ʾEl, God) with צָפַן (tsaphan, hide or store away), giving the sense “my God has treasured” or “God has hidden.” The clan’s name carries an image of what is kept within God’s care, even as the verse simply names its people.
ALSO GROWS
tsaphan: Hide, store away
צָפַן
This verb is the seed within Elizaphan’s name.
tsafun: Hidden, stored away
צָפוּן
This related form gives the name’s root a sense of something kept or treasured.
THE PATTERN
Shared service takes shape through distinct people gathered into an ordered body.
And with you there shall be a man of every staff; each one a head of the house of his fathers.Of the sons of Elizaphan; Shemaiah the head, and his brothers, two hundred.So we, though many, are one body in the Anointed One, and each of us is a limb of one another.THE THREAD
And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak, for your servant hears and responds.Shemaiah’s name contains שָׁמַע (shamaʿ, hear or heed), and Samuel’s answer uses the same root in “thy servant heareth.” The echo opens hearing as attentive response, a quality carried in the name at the head of this gathered company.
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