What Does 1 Samuel 16:8 Mean?
Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither has the LORD chosen this one.
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
Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this.THE KEY
Passing before the chooser is not the same thing as being chosen.
THE MEANING
In your life, what is brought into view is not thereby what is chosen. Being seen, presented, or favorably placed does not itself equal selection; the verse keeps presentation and discernment distinct.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If I am visible, nominated, or placed before the right person, I must be the one chosen.
THE ROOT
בָּחַר
bachar
GROWS FROM
בחר
b-ḥ-r
to choose, select
“chosen” in this verse is bachar. Bachar names the act of selection, not merely a status someone holds. The procession before Samuel makes the distinction visible: a person can be presented and seen without being selected.
ALSO GROWS
bachir: chosen one, elect
בָּחִיר
The noun keeps the act of selection inside the identity: the chosen one is the one selected.
mivchar: choice, selection; sometimes the best or choice portion
מִבְחָר
This branch shows that the root can describe both choosing and what has been selected.
THE PATTERN
Selection is an act of discernment, not a status guaranteed by appearing before the selector.
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.He chose David, his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds.Hear, my beloved brothers. Did not God choose the emptied ones of this world, rich in trust, and heirs of the governance that he promised to those who love him?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.“Hath chosen” comes from the same Hebrew root, בחר (bachar), as “chosen” here. In both verses, the root points to selection as an act: being brought into view or counted among many does not itself explain who is chosen.
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