What Does 1 Samuel 9:11 Mean?
And as they went up the rise to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw waters, and said to them, Is the one who sees here?
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 as they went up the hill to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said unto them, Is the seer here?THE KEY
The seer is literally the one who sees, and the search for him begins along the everyday path of women drawing water.
THE MEANING
When you are searching for insight, the way toward it can pass through people already attending to ordinary needs. The women are going out to draw water, while the question asks whether the one who sees is there. The search and the daily task share the same moment.
THE ROOT
רֹאֶה
ro’eh
GROWS FROM
ראה
To see, look, or perceive.
“the one who sees” in this verse is ro’eh. English makes seer sound like a separate role, but the Hebrew word is formed from the ordinary act of seeing. It names the sought person as the one who perceives, while leaving open what that perception entails.
ALSO GROWS
ra’ah: To see, look at, or perceive.
רָאָה
The seer is named through this same act: the one who sees.
mar’eh: Sight, appearance, or vision.
מַרְאֶה
This branch carries seeing into what is seen, linking the seer with sight and vision.
THE PATTERN
A meaningful encounter can emerge through people met in the ordinary course of drawing water.
And it came to pass, before he had finished speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, brother of Abraham, with her jar upon her shoulder.A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give me a drink.THE THREAD
And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the one who sees. Go up before my face to the high place, for you shall eat with me today, and tomorrow I will send you away, and I will tell you all that is in your heart.The same Hebrew word for seer, רֹאֶה (ro’eh), returns when Samuel answers Saul directly. The one sought for his seeing says he will also disclose what is in Saul’s heart.
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