What Does 1 Samuel 20:35 Mean?
And it came to be in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the appointed time with David, and a little lad with him.
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 it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him.THE KEY
Hebrew makes the appointed time itself a meeting, so Jonathan’s arrival embodies the bond he shares with the beloved David.
THE MEANING
A relationship takes shape in a time and place that are kept: Jonathan goes into the field in the morning with a boy beside him, toward David. For you, the appointed moment is already more than a clock reading, it is where presence becomes possible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
An appointment is only a point on a schedule; here, the word for the appointed time carries the idea of a meeting within it.
THE ROOT
מוֹעֵד
mo’ed
GROWS FROM
יעד
y-ʿ-d
To appoint or designate; in a related verbal form, to meet by appointment.
“appointed time” in this verse is mo’ed. The verse’s לְמוֹעֵד (lemo’ed, “for the appointed meeting”) carries both a set time and the meeting it makes possible. Jonathan’s arrival enters that meeting; the hour and the relationship share one Hebrew seed.
ALSO GROWS
mo’adim: Appointed times or festivals.
מוֹעֲדִים
The same word names the recurring set times in Leviticus 23:2, where a date becomes a gathering.
ve-no’adti: “I will meet with you.”
וְנוֹעַדְתִּי
Exodus 25:22 uses a form of this root for meeting at the ark, joining appointment and encounter in one word family.
דָּוִד
Dāwīd
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved; the name carries the nature of one who is loved.
David’s name carries belovedness into the scene: this is not simply a scheduled meeting, but the time set with the beloved. The name makes relationship part of the verse’s meaning.
ALSO GROWS
dōd: Beloved or lover.
דּוֹד
This related word gives the name David its sense of belovedness, placing affection inside the meeting.
dōdî: My beloved.
דּוֹדִי
Song of Songs 5:16 uses this form for the speaker’s beloved, showing the relational force carried by the name’s root.
THE PATTERN
A time set apart becomes a place where presence and relationship can meet.
Is any word too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will turn back to you, at this season of life, and Sarah will have a son.Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, Concerning the appointed meetings of the LORD, which you shall call out as set-apart assemblies. These are my appointed meetings.And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked it through with them, about to leave the next day, and stretched his word out until midnight.THE THREAD
And there I meet with you, and I speak with you from above the covering, from between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of the witness, all that I command you to the children of Israel.“I will meet with thee” renders וְנוֹעַדְתִּי (ve-no’adti, “I will meet by appointment”), from יעד (ya’ad, “appoint or designate; meet”). That is the same root behind מוֹעֵד (mo’ed, “appointed time or meeting”) in this verse, so Jonathan’s appointment with David carries the same shape as a meeting at the ark.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us