What Does 1 Samuel 25:10 Mean?
Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who break away, each one from his master.
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 Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master.THE KEY
The Hebrew behind “break away” can mean “break through,” so Nabal’s accusation already carries the image of a person forcing a way out.
THE MEANING
Contempt can meet a name with “Who is he?” and reduce its bearer to a category: a servant who leaves his master. The Hebrew word translated “break away” also means “break through” or “burst forth,” framing the departure as a forceful crossing of a boundary. The verse shows how a person can be denied recognition before his claim is even heard.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that someone labeled a runaway servant is nobody whose words deserve a hearing.
THE ROOT
הַמִּתְפָּרְצִים
hammithparatsim
GROWS FROM
פרץ
Break through, burst out, or break open.
The word rendered “break away” carries the force of breaking through. The English can make departure sound like simple disloyalty; the Hebrew also lets you hear the force of someone pressing through a boundary.
ALSO GROWS
parats: To break through, burst forth, or spread.
פָּרַץ
This verb holds the force of the departure in Nabal’s accusation: someone pressing beyond a boundary.
perets: A breach or opening made by a break.
פֶּרֶץ
The breach-language shows how the same root can name the opening created when something breaks through.
דָּוִד
Dāwīd
GROWS FROM
דוד
Beloved; the same root also appears in a word for an uncle or close male kin.
David’s name carries the nature of “beloved,” even as the question “Who is David?” tries to strip the name of recognition. The root’s kinship sense adds closeness to the name Nabal dismisses.
ALSO GROWS
dôd: Beloved one or beloved.
דּוֹד
This is the name-nature carried by David: “Who is David?” denies recognition of the beloved.
dôd: Uncle or close male kin.
דּוֹד
The same word also names close kin, giving David’s name a sense of personal belonging that Nabal’s dismissal refuses.
THE PATTERN
Contempt narrows a person to the status or origin used to dismiss their claim.
And Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spoke to the men, and Eliab's anger burned against David, and he said, Why have you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence, and the evil of your heart, for you have come down so that you might see the battle.And Nathanael said to him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see.And you look upon the one who wears shining clothing, and say to him, Sit here well; and say to the emptied one, Stand there, or sit here beneath my footstool.THE THREAD
And it came to be, as he drew back his hand, and behold, his brother came out, and she said, How have you broken through? Let this breach be upon you. Therefore his name was called Pharez, the breach.Both passages use פרץ (parats, “break through” or “burst forth”), the root behind “break away” and the name Pharez. Nabal frames the boundary crossing as an accusation; Genesis uses the same root to name a sudden emergence.
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