What Does 1 Chronicles 22:17 Mean?
David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying,
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
David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying,THE KEY
Solomon’s authority begins with receiving help: David commands all Israel’s princes to lend him their strength.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks now to anyone carrying consequential work: the person at its center is not meant to carry it alone. David (דָּוִד, Dāwīd, “beloved”) commands Israel’s princes to help Solomon (שְׁלֹמֹה, Shelomoh, whose name bears the sense of wholeness), making support a responsibility around the one who leads. Authority and dependence stand together: leadership receives strength through a community.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a leader’s strength must be self-sufficient dissolves here: the one at the center of the work is surrounded by help that others are charged to give.
THE ROOT
לַעְזֹר
laʿzor to help
GROWS FROM
עזר
ʿ-z-r
to help, give aid, support
The verb here comes from the same root as עֵזֶר (ʿēzer, help or helper): Hebrew uses one seed for both the act of helping and the aid or helper itself. The princes’ support is presented as strength made present around Solomon, something the work can depend on.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēzer: help; helper
עֵזֶר
This noun uses the same seed for aid itself, showing that the princes are to become support for Solomon.
ʾEven ha-ʿezer: stone of help
אֶבֶן הָעֵזֶר
The same word for help marks a place remembered for aid; here, too, help is concrete support that carries a work forward.
שְׁלֹמֹה
Shelomoh
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
to be whole, complete, or intact
Solomon’s name shares its root with שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness and well-being). The verse places that name beside עזר (ʿ-z-r, help), so wholeness stands within a web of support, with others summoned to strengthen the work.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: wholeness; well-being
שָׁלוֹם
Solomon’s name carries the same seed as shalom, and the verse places his work among those who support him.
shalem: whole; complete
שָׁלֵם
This branch names completeness; the help David assigns becomes part of the setting around Solomon’s task.
וַיְצַו
wayəṣaw he commanded
GROWS FROM
צוה
ṣ-w-h
to charge, command, or appoint
“commanded” in this verse is wayəṣaw he commanded. This root also forms מִצְוָה (miṣwāh, command or charge). The help David calls for is assigned to all the princes as a responsibility, rather than left as an unspoken hope.
ALSO GROWS
miṣwāh: command; charge
מִצְוָה
The shared root makes clear that helping Solomon is a charge laid on the leaders.
ṣaw: command; precept
צַו
This shorter form carries the same sense of an issued charge, echoing the deliberate force of David’s instruction.
THE PATTERN
A person at the center of a task is strengthened when others take their place around the work.
But Moses' hands were heavy. And they took a stone and set it under him, and he sat upon it. And Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on this side and the other on that side, and his hands were steady until the sun went down.And look, the watches of the priests and the Levites will be with you for all the serving of the house of God; and every willing skillful man will be with you for all manner of work, for every kind of serving. Also the princes and all the people will be wholly at your word.Embrace Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in the anointed one, Jesus.THE THREAD
My help comes from the LORD, who makes heavens and earth.The Hebrew verb לַעְזֹר (laʿzor, to help) here and עֶזְרִי (ʿezrî, my help) in the psalm share the root עזר (ʿ-z-r, help or support). David directs the princes to give that help to Solomon; the psalm names the LORD as its source.
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