What Does 1 Kings 1:4 Mean?
And the young woman was very fair, and she was near to the king and attended him, but the king did not know her.
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 the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.THE KEY
The verse keeps bodily care and sexual knowing distinct: the king is cherished and served, yet does not know her.
THE MEANING
The young woman is beautiful and gives the king attentive care, yet sexual union remains absent. The wording lets touch and service be real without treating them as proof of sexual knowing. That distinction remains legible wherever care and intimacy are assumed to mean the same thing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that bodily care necessarily means sexual intimacy.
THE ROOT
יְדָעָהּ
yeda'ah
GROWS FROM
ידע
yada
To know, recognize, or perceive through encounter.
“did not know her” in this verse is yeda'ah. This root names knowing through recognition and encounter; in biblical usage, “know her” can also name sexual union. Its negation here marks more than a lack of information: it marks the absence of sexual intimacy.
ALSO GROWS
da'at: Knowledge, understanding, or perception.
דַּעַת
This noun shows the root extending from personal knowing into what is understood or perceived.
mada: Knowledge or learning.
מַדָּע
This branch likewise carries the root from knowing a person to acquired knowledge.
סֹכֶנֶת
sokhenet
GROWS FROM
סכן
sakan
To be useful or familiar; to attend closely.
“was near to the king” in this verse is sokhenet. The root holds practical usefulness and familiarity together. Here it describes close attendance and care, while the final clause keeps that closeness distinct from sexual knowing.
ALSO GROWS
sakan: To become acquainted or familiar.
סָכַן
This verbal form shows that the root can describe familiarity, a kind of closeness that does not by itself mean sexual union.
sokhen: A steward or court official.
סֹכֵן
This related form carries the root into a role of practical attendance and service.
וַתְּשָׁרְתֵהוּ
vat-teshartehu
GROWS FROM
שרת
sharath
To attend or serve.
“attended” in this verse is vat-teshartehu. The same root describes Joshua attending Moses and priests serving in the sanctuary. Here it marks sustained service, a distinct reality from the sexual knowing the verse explicitly denies.
ALSO GROWS
mesharet: An attendant or minister.
מְשָׁרֵת
Joshua is called Moses’ attendant in Exodus 24:13, showing the root’s use for personal service.
lesharet: To minister or serve.
לְשָׁרֵת
The same verb describes priestly service in the holy place in Exodus 28:35.
THE PATTERN
Scripture can use “knowing” for sexual union, so its explicit absence remains meaningful amid bodily care.
And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, the gotten one, and she said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.And Mary said to the messenger, How will this be, since I have not known a man?And he did not know her until she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus.THE THREAD
And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, the gotten one, and she said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.Genesis uses the same root, ידע (yada), for sexual knowing, followed by conception. That makes the negation in 1 Kings 1:4 precise: it names the absence of sexual intimacy, not simply distance or lack of awareness.
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