What Does 1 Samuel 19:7 Mean?
And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan laid before him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and David was before the face of Saul, as in days gone by.
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 Jonathan called David, and Jonathan shewed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as in times past.THE KEY
English calls it “presence”; Hebrew pictures David standing before Saul’s face again.
THE MEANING
When a trusted person carries the truth between you and someone else, you can find yourself returned to a familiar face. The relationship may resume its former shape; the verse holds that restoration in the simple image of standing before someone again.
THE ROOT
לְפָנָיו
lefanav
GROWS FROM
פנה
panah
To turn or face toward.
“presence” in this verse is lefanav. לְפָנָיו (lefanav) means “before his face.” English makes the return sound like re-entry into a place; Hebrew pictures David once more standing before Saul’s face.
ALSO GROWS
panim: The face; by extension, someone’s presence.
פָּנִים
It makes Saul’s “presence” a face David stands before, not an abstract setting.
lifnei: Before someone or something; in someone’s presence.
לִפְנֵי
This branch makes nearness a visible relation: one person stands before another.
THE PATTERN
An estranged person can return to relationship when truth is brought into the open and someone makes room for their presence.
Joseph said to his brothers, Draw near to me, I pray you. And they drew near. And he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.And he rose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and his inward parts were moved, and he ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him.If then you hold me as a sharer in common, receive him as me.THE THREAD
Do not throw me away from your face, and do not take your Set-Apart Breath from me.The same Hebrew word family for face and presence connects the verses: here David stands before Saul’s face again; in the psalm, he pleads not to be cast away from God’s presence. One word holds both restored access and the vulnerability of losing it.
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