What Does 1 Samuel 9:5 Mean?
And when they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, Come, let us turn back, lest my father stop caring for the asses and grow anxious for us.
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 when they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that was with him, Come, and let us return; lest my father leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us.THE KEY
The search turns when Saul realizes that his father may now be worrying over the searchers, not only the missing donkeys.
THE MEANING
The verse lets you feel a search change center: the donkeys are still missing, yet Saul sees that his father may now be anxious for him and his companion. The possibility of their father’s worry turns their attention homeward.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that finishing the search matters more than the people doing it is undone when Saul turns back because his father may be worrying for them.
THE ROOT
וְדָאַג
wə-da'ag
GROWS FROM
דאג
To be anxious or troubled with concern.
“grow anxious for us” in this verse is wə-da'ag. The KJV phrase “take thought” can sound like ordinary planning, but וְדָאַג names active worry. The same root appears when Saul’s father “sorroweth” for him in the next chapter: the anxiety Saul anticipates is already a real bond between them.
ALSO GROWS
da'ag: To be anxious or worry.
דָּאַג
This verb names the worry Saul anticipates in his father, rather than mere consideration.
de'agah: Anxiety or concern.
דְּאָגָה
This noun form appears as “heaviness” in Proverbs 12:25, showing how the same root names concern that weighs on the heart.
שָׁאוּל
Sha'ul
GROWS FROM
שׁאל
To ask, inquire, or request.
Saul’s name carries the sense of “asked for,” from the same root as the people’s request for a king. His name brings that asking into the scene as he speaks of his father’s concern for him.
ALSO GROWS
sha'al: To ask, inquire, or request.
שָׁאַל
In 1 Samuel 8:10 this root describes the people who ask Samuel for a king, linking Saul’s name to that request.
she'elah: A request or petition.
שְׁאֵלָה
This noun preserves the root’s movement from asking to what is asked for, which the name Sha’ul compresses.
THE PATTERN
When absence begins to hurt, attention shifts from the search’s object to the person who is missing.
When you leave me today, you will find two men by Rachel's grave, in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will say to you, "The donkeys you went to seek have been found." Behold, your father has let go of the matter of the donkeys, and frets over you, saying, "What shall I do for my son?"And when they saw him, they were struck, and his mother said to him, Child, why have you done this to us? Look, your father and I, aching, were seeking you.THE THREAD
When you leave me today, you will find two men by Rachel's grave, in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will say to you, "The donkeys you went to seek have been found." Behold, your father has let go of the matter of the donkeys, and frets over you, saying, "What shall I do for my son?"The “take thought” here and “sorroweth” there translate the same Hebrew verb, דאג (da’ag): the worry Saul anticipates is his father’s reality. The next verse opens this one further by showing that his father has left the donkeys to worry about his son.
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