What Does 1 Samuel 24:6 Mean?
And he said to his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD's anointed one, to stretch out my hand against him, for he is the anointed one of the LORD.
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 he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.THE KEY
David’s hand is not simply lifted; it is “sent,” and the verse locates restraint at the moment that sending would become harm.
THE MEANING
The verse shows a hand capable of violence being held back because the person before it is named as the LORD’s anointed. Restraint remains real even when danger is close enough to touch.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being able to harm someone does not make that harm yours to authorize.
THE ROOT
לִשְׁלֹחַ יָדִי
lišlōaḥ yādî
GROWS FROM
שלח
To send, send forth, release, or let go.
“stretch out my hand” in this verse is lišlōaḥ yādî. English “stretch forth” sounds like posture, but the Hebrew verb comes from שלח (š-l-ḥ), “send forth.” The hand is pictured as something dispatched toward another; the sentence stops that sending before it becomes a blow.
ALSO GROWS
šālîaḥ: Messenger; one who is sent.
שָׁלִיחַ
This branch makes the root’s sense of sending visible in a person who carries it out.
šîlōaḥ: Shiloach, associated with the pool of Siloam, whose name is glossed as “Sent.”
שִׁלֹחַ
The same sending root appears in the name of the waters where a man washes and comes seeing in John 9:7.
מְשִׁיחַ
māšîaḥ
GROWS FROM
משח
To smear or apply oil; to anoint.
The anointed one is named through the act that marks him: מָשַׁח (māšaḥ), “to anoint.” The repeated title keeps that marking before David’s eyes as the reason his hand remains withheld.
ALSO GROWS
māšaḥ: To anoint with oil.
מָשַׁח
The verb names the act behind the title applied to the person David refuses to strike.
mišḥāh: Anointing or anointing oil.
מִשְׁחָה
This branch carries the same root into the substance and act associated with being marked as anointed.
THE PATTERN
When harm is within reach, restraint leaves judgment with the LORD.
And David said to Abishai, Do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the LORD's anointed one and remain clean?Saying, "Do not touch my anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm."Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but give room to wrath. For it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will give back, says the LORD.THE THREAD
And he said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, the Sent. So he went and washed, and came seeing.The phrase “stretch forth” comes from שלח (šālaḥ), “send forth,” and Siloam is glossed here as “Sent,” linking it to the Hebrew name Shiloach. In this verse the hand’s sending is withheld from harm; there, the sent waters accompany a man’s coming to sight.
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