What Does 1 Samuel 9:21 Mean?
And Saul answered and said, Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? And is not my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak to me so?
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 Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to me?THE KEY
Saul’s Hebrew identity means “son of the right hand,” even as he calls his family least, holding honor and smallness together in one sentence.
THE MEANING
This verse gives you language for the gap between a small self-measure and an address that feels too large to fit. Saul names his tribe and family as least, then asks why such a word is spoken to him; the question shows how thoroughly that measure shapes what seems possible. Yet “Benjamite” carries the name “son of the right hand,” placing honor beside his claim of smallness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a small origin means no weighty word can be meant for you.
THE ROOT
בֶּן־יְמִינִי
ben-yemini
GROWS FROM
ימן
y-m-n
Right hand; right side.
“Benjamite” sounds like a tribal label, but the Hebrew preserves ben-yemini: “son of the right hand.” Saul’s identity carries right-hand significance at the same moment he describes his family as least.
ALSO GROWS
yamin: Right hand; right side.
יָמִין
Benjamin’s name joins ben, “son,” with yamin, “right hand,” giving Saul’s tribal identity a meaning beyond a label.
yemini: Right-handed; belonging to the right side or to Benjamin.
יְמִינִי
The verse uses this form for Saul’s tribal identity, placing the right-hand name directly beside his low self-description.
הַצְּעִרָה
hatse'irah
GROWS FROM
צער
ṣ-ʿ-r
To be small, young, or insignificant.
The word for Saul’s family can carry the sense of being young or low in rank as well as small in number. English “least” compresses those shades into one measure of inferiority.
ALSO GROWS
tsāʿîr: Young, younger, or small.
צָעִיר
The younger or smaller one can occupy a lower place in an ordering, echoing Saul’s description of his family.
tse'irah: Small or young, feminine form.
צְעִירָה
This is the form applied to Saul’s family, extending the sense of smallness from the tribe to his household.
מִקְּטַנֵּי
miqqetannei
GROWS FROM
קטן
q-ṭ-n
To be small or little.
“smallest” in this verse is miqqetannei. Saul first measures Benjamin with the root for smallness, then describes his family with a different root for small or young. The paired words move the claim of smallness from the tribe’s scale to the household’s standing.
ALSO GROWS
qāṭān: Small, little, or young.
קָטָן
This is the root sense behind Saul’s description of Benjamin as one of Israel’s smallest tribes.
qəṭannîm: Small ones; little ones.
קְטַנִּים
The plural form preserves the idea of relative smallness that Saul uses to measure his tribe.
THE PATTERN
Scripture repeatedly shows that low status or smallness does not set the final measure of a person’s place.
He raises the bowed one from the dust, and lifts the one in want from the ash heap;He has pulled the mighty down from their seats, and lifted up the low.But God picked out the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; and God picked out the weak things of the world to shame the strong.THE THREAD
And it came to pass, as her living soul was going out, for she died, that she called his name Benoni, son of my bowing low. And his father called him Benjamin, son of the right hand.Genesis gives the name’s own meaning: Benjamin, “son of my right hand.” Saul’s tribal identity therefore carries the same right-hand name even as he calls his family least. The name and the self-description sit side by side in his answer.
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