What Does 1 Samuel 16:10 Mean?
Again, Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, The LORD has not chosen these.
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
Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these.THE KEY
Being brought before Samuel is not the same as being chosen by the LORD.
THE MEANING
A full lineup still leaves the choice unresolved: the LORD has not chosen these sons. Being presented, counted, or expected does not make someone the one selected. The verse keeps the scene open.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that the visible list must contain the one who is chosen dissolves here: seven sons pass before Samuel, and none is selected.
THE ROOT
בָּחַר
bachar
GROWS FROM
בחר
b-ḥ-r
to choose, select
“chosen” in this verse is bachar. The Hebrew verb names the act of selection itself. The sons are made to pass before Samuel, but presentation is not selection; the verse keeps those two acts distinct.
ALSO GROWS
bechir: chosen one; elect
בְּחִיר
This form names the one who has been selected, making visible the distinction between being presented and being chosen.
mibchar: choice; the best or choicest selection
מִבְחָר
This form carries the root into the result of choosing: what is selected from among what is available.
THE PATTERN
A visible candidate list does not determine whom God chooses.
But the LORD said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have pushed him away. The LORD does not see as the human sees. The human sees what is outside, but the LORD sees the heart.For you are a set-apart people unto the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people of his own treasure, above all the peoples who are upon the face of the ground.But God picked out the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; and God picked out the weak things of the world to shame the strong.THE THREAD
For you are a set-apart people unto the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people of his own treasure, above all the peoples who are upon the face of the ground.Both verses use בחר (bachar, “choose, select”): the sons pass before Samuel and are not chosen, while Deuteronomy names a people as chosen. The shared root makes the distinction clear: selection is an act in its own right, not a synonym for being presented.
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