What Does 1 Kings 22:7 Mean?
And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we may inquire of him?
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 Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him?THE KEY
“Enquire” names an active search for the LORD’s word, so Jehoshaphat’s question keeps discernment open.
THE MEANING
Discernment remains open even when an answer is already on the table. Many voices do not by themselves establish that the LORD has been heard; the question still turns toward a prophet belonging to the LORD.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that consensus settles what the LORD has said dissolves here: the number of voices alone does not reveal their source.
THE ROOT
נִדְרְשָׁה
nidresha
GROWS FROM
דָּרַשׁ
darash
To seek, inquire, or resort to.
“enquire” in this verse is nidresha. The verb names directed seeking: they intend to seek an answer from the prophet. Inquiry reaches beyond what has already been spoken toward the source of the LORD’s word.
ALSO GROWS
midrash: Interpretive inquiry or study.
מִדְרָשׁ
The same root links inquiry with an active pursuit of understanding.
doresh: One who seeks or inquires.
דּוֹרֵשׁ
The seeker is defined by the movement toward what they are trying to know.
יְהוֹשָׁפָט
Yehoshafat
GROWS FROM
שָׁפַט
shaphat
To judge, decide, or govern; the name means “YHWH judges.”
Jehoshaphat’s name carries the nature “YHWH judges.” In this verse, that nature meets the question: a voice belonging to the LORD is still sought.
ALSO GROWS
shofet: Judge.
שֹׁפֵט
This branch names one who exercises judgment, echoing the nature carried in Jehoshaphat’s name.
mishpat: Judgment or justice.
מִשְׁפָּט
This branch names the judgment that belongs to the root’s field of meaning.
THE PATTERN
Seeking the LORD gives an unsettled question a direction.
And the children crushed one another within her, and she said, If it is so, why am I like this? And she went to seek the LORD.But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your living soul.Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.THE THREAD
And the children crushed one another within her, and she said, If it is so, why am I like this? And she went to seek the LORD.Both verses use דָּרַשׁ (darash, to seek or inquire), making inquiry a movement toward the LORD. Rebekah’s troubled question illuminates Jehoshaphat’s: an unsettled question can become a direct search for the LORD’s word.
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