What Does 1 Samuel 20:41 Mean?
And as soon as the lad was gone, David rose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David grew great.
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 as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded.THE KEY
David’s grief is not an interruption of love; it is love taking bodily form and growing beyond measure.
THE MEANING
When a close bond is cut by departure, the body speaks what words cannot: a lowered face, a kiss, and tears. David’s grief keeps growing until it exceeds measure, making love visible in the ache of separation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that deep affection should remain composed at parting; here the body’s grief reveals the bond’s depth.
THE ROOT
הִגְדִּיל
higdil
GROWS FROM
גדל
grow; become great
“grew great” in this verse is higdil. The final verb belongs to a root of growing and becoming great, giving the ending an image of grief enlarging. David’s sorrow rises beyond the shared measure of the moment; it swells rather than remaining a fixed amount of tears.
ALSO GROWS
gadol: great; large
גָּדוֹל
This common branch carries the same sense of becoming great, echoing the scale David’s grief reaches.
migdal: tower
מִגְדָּל
A tower rises high; this branch makes the root’s sense of growth and elevation concrete.
וַיִּבְכּוּ
wayyivku
GROWS FROM
בכה
weep; cry
“wept” in this verse is wayyivku. The root names both the act of crying and people as “weepers,” making grief a shared human state rather than a private weakness. Here, “one with another” fits that shared root: the tears pass between them.
ALSO GROWS
bekhi: weeping; a cry of grief
בְּכִי
This noun names the act itself, making the tears more than a stray reaction: grief becomes the experience they share.
bochim: weepers; those who weep
בֹּכִים
In Judges 2:1 the root names people through their weeping, showing how grief can mark a shared place and moment.
THE PATTERN
When love faces separation or loss, it becomes visible through the body’s tears and touch.
And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.Jesus wept.And a great weeping came upon them all, and falling upon Paul's neck, they kissed him,THE THREAD
And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.The same sequence returns: face, tears, and a kiss. Both verses use the root בכה (bakah, “to weep”), revealing grief as the body’s language of attachment across a parting.
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