What Does 1 Samuel 20:37 Mean?
And when the lad came to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond you?
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 when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee?THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “shot” also gives “instruction”: Jonathan’s arrow is a message cast ahead.
THE MEANING
A sign speaks through where it lands: the arrow has gone beyond the lad, and Jonathan names that distance aloud. What is sent ahead can reveal direction before it is explained in words.
THE ROOT
יָרָה
yārāh
GROWS FROM
ירה
To cast or throw; in related usage, to direct or teach.
The verb for Jonathan’s arrow being shot, yārāh, also gives words for instruction and teaching. Hebrew lets the arrow’s flight and the act of teaching share one seed: what is cast forward can point the way.
ALSO GROWS
tôrāh: Instruction; teaching
תּוֹרָה
Torah shares this root, joining what is cast forward with guidance that points toward a path.
mōreh: Teacher; one who instructs
מוֹרֶה
The teacher sends direction forward, much as the arrow marks a direction beyond the lad.
יְהוֹנָתָן
Yehonatan
GROWS FROM
נתן
To give, set, or place.
Yehonatan means “YHWH has given.” The name’s root of giving and placing echoes the scene: Jonathan sends an arrow into place as a signal.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place
נָתַן
This is the verbal root carried in Jonathan’s name.
mattanāh: Gift
מַתָּנָה
This noun from the same root makes the name’s sense of giving audible.
THE PATTERN
A sign sent ahead can carry direction before words confirm it.
But if I say to the lad, Behold, the arrows are beyond you, go your way, for the LORD has sent you.Good and straight is the LORD. Therefore he aims those who miss the mark down the way.But when he comes, the breath of truth, he will lead you along the way into all truth. For he will not speak from himself, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will bring word back to you of the coming things.THE THREAD
And many peoples shall go and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will aim us along his ways, and we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion the instruction shall go forth, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.The “shot” in this verse and the “teach” and “law” in Isaiah 2:3 are tied to the root יָרָה (yārāh), meaning to cast or throw, and also to teach. Here the arrow marks a direction; in Isaiah, instruction goes forth and becomes a path to walk.
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