What Does 2 Samuel 17:17 Mean?
Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stood by En-rogel, for they could not be seen to come into the city; a maidservant went and told them, and they went and told king David.
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
Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told them; and they went and told king David.THE KEY
The message reaches David because danger reroutes it through an unnamed woman instead of stopping it.
THE MEANING
A direct path can be unsafe while a message still finds its way forward through a relay. An unnamed young woman carries the report to the hidden messengers, and they carry it on to David. The danger changes the route; it does not silence the message.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If I cannot reach someone directly, what I know cannot reach them.
THE ROOT
וַתַּגֵּד
wattagged
GROWS FROM
נגד
To tell, declare, or make known; related forms also mean before or in front of.
“told” in this verse is wattagged. The verb appears in both handoffs: she tells the messengers, and they tell David. The repeated root makes each person’s part of the relay the same act of making the message known.
ALSO GROWS
maggid: One who tells or declares.
מַגִּיד
The woman and the men each take their turn as the one who declares the message.
neged: Before, in front of, or opposite.
נֶגֶד
The related sense of bringing something before someone illuminates how the report is carried to each new hearer.
nagid: A leader, ruler, or prince.
נָגִיד
The report’s final recipient is David, the king; the same root also names one who stands at the head.
THE PATTERN
Critical knowledge can change the course of events through people outside the center of power.
And the Syrians had gone out in raiding bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she stood before Naaman's wife. And she said to her mistress, Would that my lord might meet the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would gather him from his leprosy.And when Paul's sister's son heard of their sitting in wait, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul.Then the woman let go of her water jar, went away into the city, and said to the men. Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Is this not the Anointed One?THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens recount the weight of God; and the expanse sets forth the work of his hands.Both passages use the root נגד: here the woman tells the hidden messengers, and there the firmament “sheweth” God’s handiwork. The same root spans a guarded report passed hand to hand and a declaration spread across the sky.
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