What Does 1 Samuel 17:18 Mean?
And carry these ten slices of curd to the head of their thousand, and see the wholeness of your brothers, and take their pledge.
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 carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.THE KEY
The word behind “fare” is shalom, wholeness, so David’s errand pairs material provision with a direct look at whether his brothers are well.
THE MEANING
Your care for another’s wholeness takes tangible form: provision moves toward them, and attention seeks their actual condition. Their shalom is not assumed from a distance; the errand also brings back their pledge, a sign of their response.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A gift alone tells you how someone is doing. Here, provision and a direct look at their condition are separate parts of the same act of care.
THE ROOT
שְׁלוֹם
shalom
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
The root carries the idea of being whole, sound, or complete; שָׁלוֹם (shalom) means well-being or wholeness.
The brothers’ shalom is their well-being, something David is sent to look at directly. The root also appears in words for making good or repaying, linking wholeness with making something whole again.
ALSO GROWS
shalem: whole, sound, complete
שָׁלֵם
It shows that the brothers’ “fare” is about their actual condition and soundness.
shillem: make good, repay, recompense
שִׁלֵּם
This branch links the root’s sense of wholeness with restoring what is due or making something good.
עֲרֻבָּתָם
ʿarubbātām
GROWS FROM
ערב
ʿ-r-b
The root carries the idea of giving security or standing surety; עֲרֻבָּתָם (ʿarubbātām) means “their pledge.”
The pledge is an assurance entrusted for return. The errand sends provision outward and brings back a sign from the brothers, joining concern with confirmation.
ALSO GROWS
ʿārēv: surety, guarantor
עָרֵב
A surety stands behind an assurance, illuminating the pledge’s role as a sign of trust.
ʿērāḇōn: pledge, security
עֵרָבוֹן
This related word makes clear that the pledge is a concrete guarantee, not simply a wish for the brothers’ well-being.
THE PATTERN
Care for another person’s wholeness takes material form and seeks the truth of their condition.
And I will take a morsel of bread, and prop up your hearts. After that you shall pass on, for therefore you have crossed over to your servant. And they said, So you shall make it, as you have spoken.For I hungered, and you gave me food; I thirsted, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you gathered me in.For I have no one of level living soul, who will genuinely care for the things concerning you.THE THREAD
And he asked them about their wholeness, and said, Is your father whole, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?The Hebrew word translated “welfare” here is shalom, the same word behind “fare” in David’s errand. The verse pairs asking after shalom with concrete questions about a person’s condition, showing wholeness as something you can inquire into.
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