What Does 2 Samuel 9:10 Mean?
You therefore, and your sons, and your servants, shall work the ground for him, and you shall bring in the yield, so that your master's son may have bread to eat; but Mephibosheth, your master's son, shall eat bread always at my table. And Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
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
Thou therefore, and thy sons, and thy servants, shall till the land for him, and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master’s son may have food to eat: but Mephibosheth thy master’s son shall eat bread alway at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.THE KEY
The harvest of an entire household is arranged so one man’s place at the king’s table never ends.
THE MEANING
Provision moves through many hands: the land is worked, its fruit brought in, and bread made available. Mephibosheth’s place at the table is ongoing; welcome is built into the household’s daily order.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A place at the table must be earned by the one who eats there. Here, another household’s labor sustains Mephibosheth’s continuing provision and welcome.
THE ROOT
שֻׁלְחָן
shulchan
GROWS FROM
שלח
To send forth, release, or stretch out.
The word for table carries the root of sending and releasing: provision is stretched out for someone to receive. Here, the field’s harvest becomes more than food, it sustains a lasting place at the king’s table.
ALSO GROWS
shalach: Send forth; release; let go.
שָׁלַח
The same root links the table to provision extended outward, so the meal is something offered and made available.
Shiloach: Sent; the name of a pool whose waters are called “sent.”
שִׁלֹחַ
This branch shows the root naming what is sent outward to reach a recipient, echoing the fruit brought in for Mephibosheth.
THE PATTERN
Provision becomes communal when it passes through many hands to reach people who would otherwise have no share.
You therefore, and your sons, and your servants, shall work the ground for him, and you shall bring in the yield, so that your master's son may have bread to eat; but Mephibosheth, your master's son, shall eat bread always at my table. And Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.Then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to them for whom nothing stands ready, for this day is set apart to our Lord. Do not ache, for the joy of the LORD is your stronghold.But when you make a feast, call the emptied, the maimed, the lame, the blind.THE THREAD
Then the LORD said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews. Let my people go, that they may serve me.The noun שֻׁלְחָן (shulchan, table) shares the root שלח (shalach, send or release) with the command “Let my people go.” The shared root joins release with provision extended outward: what is let go can reach the one who needs it.
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