What Does 2 Chronicles 21:20 Mean?
Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and went away without being longed for. Yet they buried him in the city of David, but not in the graves of the kings.
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
Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.THE KEY
A grave in the city of the beloved cannot supply the longing that a life leaves behind.
THE MEANING
The verse holds royal rank and burial in David’s city beside departure without being desired. It speaks now wherever outward honor is mistaken for being cherished: a title or memorial does not tell us whether a life is longed for.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Having a title and an honored place means one is truly cherished.
THE ROOT
חֶמְדָּה
chemdah
GROWS FROM
חמד
ḥ-m-d
To desire, take pleasure in, or find precious.
“longed for” in this verse is chemdah. The king departs without חֶמְדָּה (chemdah, desire or preciousness): the verse describes more than a missing ceremony; it points to a life that leaves no longing behind. The root can name what is desirable and precious, so its absence makes the contrast with royal standing sharp.
ALSO GROWS
neḥmadim: Desirable; to be desired.
נֶחְמָדִים
Psalm 19:10 uses this form for what is more desirable than gold, showing the root can describe something deeply prized.
maḥmadim: Desirable things; precious or lovely ones.
מַחֲמַדִּים
Song of Songs 5:16 uses this form to describe the beloved, connecting desire with cherished affection.
דָּוִד
David
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved; beloved one.
The king is buried in the city of David, whose name is linked with דּוֹד (dod, beloved), while he departs without being desired. The place carries the name of the beloved, but cannot make the one buried there beloved.
ALSO GROWS
dod: Beloved; also kinsman or loved one.
דּוֹד
This root word gives the name David its association with belovedness, sharpening the contrast in the verse.
dodi: My beloved.
דּוֹדִי
This possessive form makes the affection explicit: the root can name someone held dear, a regard absent from the king’s departure.
THE PATTERN
A life’s public standing and the regard it leaves behind are not the same measure.
The remembrance of the aligned is for blessing, but the name of the restless rots.But the LORD said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have pushed him away. The LORD does not see as the human sees. The human sees what is outside, but the LORD sees the heart.Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for their fathers did the same to the false prophets.THE THREAD
More longed for are they than gold, than much refined gold; sweeter than honey, and the dripping of the comb.“More to be desired” translates נֶחְמָדִים (neḥmadim), from חמד (ḥ-m-d), the same root behind חֶמְדָּה (chemdah) in this verse. The root names what is precious enough to long for; here its absence makes the king’s departure an absence of cherishing, not merely of ceremony.
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