What Does 1 Samuel 14:24 Mean?
And the men of Israel were pressed that day, for Saul had bound the people with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man who eats bread until evening, so that I may be avenged on my enemies. So none of the people tasted any bread.
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 men of Israel were distressed that day: for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies. So none of the people tasted any food.THE KEY
“Distressed” shares its Hebrew root with “taskmasters”: Saul’s vow puts the people under an oppressor’s pressure.
THE MEANING
A ruler can bind a whole people to his private vengeance, making hunger the cost of obedience. The curse presses on everyone, and none of the people tastes food.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A forceful command is not automatically just: Saul’s vow serves his own vengeance while the people bear its cost.
THE ROOT
נִגַּשׂ
niggas
GROWS FROM
נגשׂ
To press, drive, or exact; the language of oppression and forced labor.
“pressed” in this verse is niggas. The word translated “distressed” carries the pressure of being driven or oppressed. Its root also names a taskmaster, so the verse’s distress is not merely tiredness: the people are bearing the force of Saul’s demand.
ALSO GROWS
taskmaster: One who drives or exacts labor.
נֹגֵשׂ
Exodus uses this word for the taskmasters pressing the people; it places Saul’s distressed army in the same word-family of coercive pressure.
exact: To press someone for what is owed.
יִגֹּשׂ
The same root describes a creditor pressing a debtor, revealing how the word can make another person bear an imposed demand.
THE PATTERN
A vow or command can make other people’s bodies bear the cost of one person’s power.
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the bending low of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their drivers. For I know their pains.When day came, certain of the Jews twisted themselves together and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had lifted Paul out of the way.For they tie up heavy loads, hard to lift, and lay them on the shoulders of people, but they themselves will not move them, even with one of their fingers.THE THREAD
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the bending low of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their drivers. For I know their pains.The word for “distressed” is נִגַּשׂ (niggas, pressed or oppressed), from נגשׂ (nagas, to press or drive); Exodus uses this same root in “taskmasters.” The shared root reveals that the people’s suffering comes from being driven under another’s demand.
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