What Does 1 Samuel 30:15 Mean?
And David said to him, Can you bring me down to this troop? And he said, Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me, nor shut me up in the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this troop.
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 David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.THE KEY
The route opens only on terms that keep the abandoned man from being shut back into his master’s hands.
THE MEANING
A way forward here depends on the safety of the person who knows the way. The Egyptian asks for his life and freedom from being handed back; only then does he offer to lead David to the raiding band. His knowledge is bound up with his vulnerability.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a person’s usefulness makes their safety optional breaks here: the guide makes protection the condition of his help.
THE ROOT
תַּסְגִּרֵנִי
tasgîrēnî
GROWS FROM
סגר
To shut, close, or enclose; in the phrase “deliver me into the hand,” to hand someone over.
“shut me up” in this verse is tasgîrēnî. The verb translated “deliver” comes from a root whose basic image is closing or shutting. The servant fears being enclosed again under his master’s power, so David’s oath would keep a way forward open for him.
ALSO GROWS
wayyisgōr: Shut in, enclosed.
וַיִּסְגֹּר
In Genesis 7:16, this root describes the LORD shutting Noah in. Here, its force is the servant’s fear of being enclosed under his master’s control.
yasgîrû: Hand over, deliver up.
יַסְגִּירוּ
In 1 Samuel 23:12, David fears being handed into Saul’s power. The servant’s plea asks David to protect someone else from the same danger.
THE PATTERN
When someone is exposed, how the powerful treat them determines whether their vulnerability becomes oppression or protection.
Do not press a sojourner, for you know his living soul, since you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.You shall not press a hired hand who is bowed down and needy, whether he is of your brothers or of your sojourners who are in your land within your gates.And the King answers and says to them, Truly, I say to you, Whatever you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you did to me.THE THREAD
Then said David, Will the men of Keilah shut me and my men up into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will shut you up.The same root, סגר (sagar, to close or hand over), names the danger David fears: being delivered into Saul’s hands. The Egyptian’s plea asks David to protect another from the vulnerability he knows himself.
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