What Does 1 Samuel 6:15 Mean?
And the Levites lowered the ark of the LORD, and the coffer that was with it, in which the vessels of gold were, and set them upon the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh sent up rising offerings, and slaughtered offerings to the LORD that same day.
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 the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD.THE KEY
The “joined ones” set the ark down while the offering’s Hebrew name means “ascent”: this verse holds descent and a rising response together.
THE MEANING
This scene holds descent and ascent together: the ark is carried down to the great stone, while the offering rises toward the LORD. The place is Beth-shemesh (בֵּית־שֶׁמֶשׁ, Bēt-šemeš, “house of the sun”), and the stone אֶבֶן (ʾeven, stone) carries the word-picture אָב (ʾav, father) + בֵּן (bēn, son), father and son held together beneath what rises.
THE ROOT
לְוִיִּם
ləwiyyim
GROWS FROM
לוה
The root לָוָה (lāwāh) means to join, attach, or accompany.
Leah’s explanation of Levi’s name uses the same joining sense that stands behind “Levites” here. The verse makes that name-nature concrete: the joined ones handle and carry the ark down.
ALSO GROWS
Lēwî: Joined, attached.
לֵוִי
The group name preserves the sense of joining carried by the root.
yillāweh: Will be joined or attached.
יִלָּוֶה
This is the joining language Leah uses when she names Levi in Genesis 29:34.
עֹלוֹת
ʿōlōt
GROWS FROM
עלה
The root עָלָה (ʿālāh) means to go up, ascend.
“sent up” in this verse is ʿōlōt. The Hebrew name of the burnt offering holds its movement: it is an ascent. Beside the ark’s descent, this root lets the verse’s paired directions come into view.
ALSO GROWS
ʿōlāh: Burnt offering; an offering that rises.
עֹלָה
This is the singular form of the offering named in the verse, with ascent held inside its Hebrew name.
ʿaliyyāh: Ascent; an upper chamber.
עֲלִיָּה
The same root names a movement upward and a place above.
הוֹרִידוּ
hōrîdû
GROWS FROM
ירד
The root יָרַד (yārad) means to descend or go down.
“lowered” in this verse is hōrîdû. The Hebrew names the ark’s downward movement with a form of “descend.” Beside the offering’s ascent, the verse places a brought-down ark and a rising response in one frame.
ALSO GROWS
yārad: To descend or go down.
יָרַד
This is the verb underlying the Levites’ action toward the stone.
yerīdāh: Descent; downward movement.
יְרִידָה
The noun makes the direction of the ark’s movement explicit.
THE PATTERN
What is received and set before God becomes an offering that rises.
And Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and sent up rising offerings on the altar.Let my prayer be set before you as smoke, and the lifting of my palms as the evening offering.Through him, then, let us always carry up a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.THE THREAD
And she conceived again, and bore a son, and she said, Now this time my husband will cling to me, because I have borne him three sons. Therefore his name was called Levi, Joined.Levi’s name is linked to לָוָה (lāwāh, “join, attach”) through Leah’s phrase “joined unto me,” and the same root underlies “Levites.” Here the joined ones carry the ark down, making the name’s joining sense an action within the scene.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us