What Does 1 Samuel 23:24 Mean?
And they rose and went to Ziph before Saul; but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain south of Jeshimon.
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 they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon.THE KEY
David’s location bears a name, מָעוֹן (Maon; ma’on, “dwelling”), so the pursued are in a place of habitation even within the wilderness.
THE MEANING
A search can move toward you without yet reaching you. The verse keeps the searchers and the sought in separate places: threat has a direction, but it has not yet become contact.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being pursued does not mean you have already been reached.
THE ROOT
מָעוֹן
ma'on
GROWS FROM
ע־ו־ן
ʿ-w-n
To dwell, inhabit; a dwelling place.
Maon echoes מָעוֹן (ma’on), “dwelling” or “habitation,” bringing the language of inhabiting into a wilderness scene. This is the dwelling sense of ע־ו־ן, distinct from עָוֹן (ʿavon), “crookedness.”
ALSO GROWS
ma'on: Dwelling place, habitation
מָעוֹן
The place-name Maon carries the root’s sense of dwelling into David’s location.
me'onah: Dwelling, abode, den
מְעוֹנָה
This related form can name an abode or den, extending the root’s sense of a place where someone remains.
THE PATTERN
A person can remain in a distinct place while danger searches or advances toward them.
And David settled in the wilderness, in strongholds, and sat on a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.For in the day of harm he stores me away in his booth; he hides me in the hiding place of his tent; he lifts me high upon a rock.When they had withdrawn, look, a messenger of the LORD appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Rise, take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word, for Herod will seek the young child to make him perish.THE THREAD
A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, you are our dwelling place in generation and generation.Maon echoes מָעוֹן (ma’on), “dwelling,” the same Hebrew noun rendered “dwelling place” here. The word for David’s wilderness location also names a place of dwelling across generations.
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