What Does 1 Chronicles 9:39 Mean?
And Ner brought forth Kish, and Kish brought forth Saul, and Saul brought forth Jonathan, and Malchishua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal.
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 Ner begat Kish; and Kish begat Saul; and Saul begat Jonathan, and Malchi-shua, and Abinadab, and Esh-baal.THE KEY
Saul means “asked for,” so this family list turns a request into a name carried forward through generations.
THE MEANING
This list makes lineage legible through names that carry declarations: “asked for,” “YHWH has given,” and “man of Baal.” It shows how a name can hold desires and loyalties that a family carries into the present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A name is only a sound with no meaning bound to the life that bears it.
THE ROOT
שָׁאוּל
Sha'ul
GROWS FROM
שאל
Ask, request.
Saul is a form of the root for asking, carrying the sense “asked for.” The name turns a request into a person within the lineage, a connection English leaves hidden.
ALSO GROWS
sha'al: Ask or request.
שָׁאַל
This verb shares Saul’s root and makes the name’s sense of “asked for” visible.
she'elah: A request or petition.
שְׁאֵלָה
The noun shows that Saul’s name belongs to the same word-family as a spoken request.
יְהוֹנָתָן
Yehonatan
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, place.
Jonathan joins the divine name to natan, “give, set, place,” and declares “YHWH has given.” Beside Saul, “asked for,” the list places a request beside a name that speaks of giving.
ALSO GROWS
natan: Give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the verbal root within Jonathan’s name and carries its declaration of giving.
mattanah: A gift.
מַתָּנָה
This noun shares the root and shows how giving can be held as something received.
אִישׁ־בָּעַל
Ish-ba'al
GROWS FROM
בעל
Own, rule, or be lord; as a noun, owner or lord.
Esh-baal means “man of Baal,” with Baal carrying the sense of lord or master as well as serving as a divine name. Beside Jonathan’s name, which declares that YHWH has given, this one preserves a different declaration within the same family list.
ALSO GROWS
ba'al: Lord, owner, or master.
בָּעַל
This noun is the second element of Esh-baal and gives the name its direct meaning.
ba'al: To own, rule, or take as husband.
בָּעַל
The verb from the same root carries the sense of mastery present in the name.
THE PATTERN
Scripture treats a name as a declaration about the nature or calling carried by a life.
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but Abraham, father of multitudes, for I have set you as a father of many nations.And she will bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus, the LORD's deliverance, for he will deliver his people from their missing.THE THREAD
And Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who asked him for a king.The Hebrew word translated “asked” shares the root שאל with Saul’s name, Sha’ul, “asked for.” The request and the name are bound by the same root, so Saul’s name carries the very asking this verse names.
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