What Does 1 Samuel 14:49 Mean?
Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishui, and Melchishua, and the names of his two daughters were these, the name of the firstborn Merab, and the name of the little one Michal.
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
Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishui, and Melchi-shua: and the names of his two daughters were these; the name of the firstborn Merab, and the name of the younger Michal:THE KEY
Jonathan’s name means “YHWH has given,” so this roll call carries a claim of receiving inside a family record.
THE MEANING
This verse holds Saul’s children before you by name, and Jonathan’s name says “YHWH has given.” Receiving is part of the identity carried in that name: life is named as given, not self-originating.
THE ROOT
יְהוֹנָתָן
Yəhōnātān
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
Jonathan is Yehonatan, “YHWH has given”; its second element grows from natan, “to give.” English presents a personal name as a label, while the Hebrew name carries a statement of giving inside it, the name itself bears a relationship.
ALSO GROWS
natan: Give, set, place.
נָתַן
This verb supplies the root in Jonathan’s name, which means “YHWH has given.”
mattan: Gift; a giving.
מַתָּן
This noun shares the root and makes visible the result carried in Jonathan’s name: what is received as gift.
THE PATTERN
In Scripture, a name can carry a claim about what a person is given or embodies.
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but Abraham, father of multitudes, for I have set you as a father of many nations.For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; the governance shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Father of the Ages, Prince of Wholeness.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
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; the governance shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Father of the Ages, Prince of Wholeness.Isaiah’s “is given” is נִתַּן (nittan, “is given”), from נתן (natan, “to give”), the same root carried in Jonathan’s name. The roll call and Isaiah’s promised son meet in the same seed of giving, so the name “YHWH has given” opens onto a wider scriptural pattern.
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