What Does 2 Samuel 18:27 Mean?
And the watcher said, I see the running of the first is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and he comes with good news.
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 watchman said, Me thinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings.THE KEY
The same Hebrew root calls both the man and the tidings good, so the message arrives joined to the character of its bearer.
THE MEANING
Good news arrives through a person, not as content detached from a life. The watchman’s judgment is tentative, while the king’s confidence rests in recognizing the runner as a good man. The message and its bearer share the same mark of goodness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Good news is only about the words delivered; the one carrying them does not matter.
THE ROOT
בְּשׂוֹרָה
besorah
GROWS FROM
בשר
b-s-r
To announce or bring news
The king does not speak of news as detached information: this word names an announcement carried by someone. The runner’s arrival and the message belong to one scene; Isaiah uses the same root for the one who brings good tidings.
ALSO GROWS
bisser: To announce or bring good tidings
בִּשֵּׂר
This verb names the act behind the news the runner carries.
mevaser: One who brings tidings; a messenger
מְבַשֵּׂר
This form names the bearer, joining the message to the person who arrives with it.
טוֹב
tov
GROWS FROM
טוב
t-w-b
Good, beneficial, pleasing
One root qualifies both the messenger and his tidings: the man is called good, and the news is called good. The verse locates confidence in the fit between the character of the bearer and the character of what arrives.
ALSO GROWS
tovah: Good, favorable
טוֹבָה
This feminine form describes the good tidings in the verse and shares its root with the king’s description of the man.
heitiv: To do good; to deal well
הֵיטִיב
This related form shows the root extending from a quality called good to the act of doing good.
THE PATTERN
Good news moves from a bearer into the hearing of others; its arrival is carried by someone.
Then they said to one another, We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we keep silent. If we wait until the morning light, crookedness will find us. So now come, and let us go and tell the king's house.How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one who brings good news, who makes wholeness heard, who brings good news of good, who makes deliverance heard, who says to Zion, Your God governs.And how will they herald unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!THE THREAD
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one who brings good news, who makes wholeness heard, who brings good news of good, who makes deliverance heard, who says to Zion, Your God governs.Both verses use בשר (b-s-r, bring news): here the king expects good tidings from a runner he recognizes, while Isaiah pictures the feet of the one bringing them. The shared root makes the message and its bearer part of the same arrival.
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