What Does 1 Samuel 9:3 Mean?
And the asses of Kish, Saul's father, had lost their way. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with you, and rise, go and seek the asses.
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 asses of Kish Saul’s father were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses.THE KEY
The lost asses send Saul searching, while his name means “asked for”, the errand already carries the shape of a larger request.
THE MEANING
Something is missing, and the response is movement: take someone with you, rise, go, seek. Loss becomes the beginning of a search, and the seeker’s name holds the sense of one asked for.
THE ROOT
אָבַד
ʾābad
GROWS FROM
אבד
Perish, become lost, disappear.
“had lost their way” in this verse is ʾābad. The root can describe both being missing and perishing, so “lost” carries more than absence: it holds the possibility of disappearance. Here that absence becomes the engine of the verse, setting a search in motion.
ALSO GROWS
ʾōvēd: Perishing; being lost
אָבֵד
It shows the peril carried within the word “lost.”
ʾăvēdāh: A lost thing; loss
אֲבֵדָה
It names the missing object itself, the thing that prompts the search.
שָׁאוּל
Sha'ul
GROWS FROM
שאל
Ask, request, inquire.
Saul’s name comes from the passive form of “ask”: the asked-for one. In a verse where he is sent to seek, the name brings the seeker and the one requested together.
ALSO GROWS
she'elah: A request; a question
שְׁאֵלָה
It makes the sense of asking in Saul’s name explicit.
mish'al: A request; something asked for
מִשְׁאָל
It echoes Saul as the one who is asked for.
בַּקֵּשׁ
baqqēsh
GROWS FROM
בקש
Seek, search for, request.
“seek” in this verse is baqqēsh. The search is an active pursuit, not simply attention to what is missing. The same root can also mean to request, linking the search for the lost with the act of asking.
ALSO GROWS
mevaqqesh: One who seeks
מְבַקֵּשׁ
It names the seeker Saul is commanded to become.
baqqashah: A request; petition
בַּקָּשָׁה
It connects seeking with asking, an echo of Saul’s name.
THE PATTERN
What is lost becomes the focus of an active search.
I wander like a sheep that loses the way; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commands.What man among you, holding a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after the one that has lost its way until he finds it?THE THREAD
As for your asses that had lost their way three days ago, do not set your heart on them, for they are found. And upon whom is all the treasure of Israel? Is it not upon you, and upon all your father's house?The same root appears again in “lost,” and the sentence answers it with “they are found.” The search reaches its visible end, then the verse opens onto the greater desire carried by Saul’s name and the question that follows.
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