What Does 1 Chronicles 3:2 Mean?
The third, Absalom, son of Maachah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah, son of Haggith.
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
The third, Absalom the son of Maachah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur: the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith:THE KEY
The third son’s name joins father to shalom, wholeness, so even this brief family record carries wholeness inside a name.
THE MEANING
You encounter each son by his place in the sequence and by his family ties: Absalom is third, linked to Maachah and her father Talmai; Adonijah is fourth, linked to Haggith. The verse holds a person’s name, parentage, and place in a line together.
THE ROOT
אַבְשָׁלוֹם
Avshalom
GROWS FROM
שׁלם
To be whole or complete; shalom carries the sense of wholeness and well-being.
“Absalom” in this verse is Avshalom. Avshalom joins av, “father,” with shalom, “wholeness.” The root also appears in words for being whole or complete, so the family name holds an image of wholeness within the line.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being
שָׁלוֹם
This is the second element of Absalom’s name, joining the family relation “father” to wholeness.
shalem: Whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This branch makes the root’s sense of wholeness concrete: shalom in the name belongs to a family of words for what is complete.
THE PATTERN
Scripture records people through names and relationships, placing each life within a line of belonging.
This is the book of the births of Adam. In the day that God created the ground-being, in the likeness of God he made him.The book of the origin of Jesus, the anointed one, son of David, son of Abraham.THE THREAD
Ask for the wholeness of Jerusalem; those who love you are at ease.Absalom’s name carries shalom, “wholeness,” while this verse names shalom as the peace of Jerusalem. The shared root opens the family name into a wider image of wholeness held and sought in common.
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