What Does Judges 1:24 Mean?
And the spies saw a man come out of the city, and they said to him, Show us, please, the entrance to the city, and we will show you faithful love.
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 spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy.THE KEY
The city’s entrance is knowledge held by a person, so the spies offer faithful care to secure his help.
THE MEANING
A route into a guarded place is held by someone who knows it; the spies need the man who can show them the way in. They promise him chesed, faithful love and care, in return, placing his risk and their access inside one bargain.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that finding an entrance is only a matter of locating a door: here, access depends on a person’s knowledge, and his protection enters the bargain.
THE ROOT
חֶסֶד
chesed
GROWS FROM
חסד
Loyal kindness; faithful love expressed through care.
“faithful love” in this verse is chesed. The spies promise more than a passing feeling of pity: they pledge faithful care to the man who risks revealing the city’s way in. The verse makes access and loyalty part of the same exchange.
ALSO GROWS
chasid: A faithful or devoted person.
חָסִיד
The related word describes a person through the loyalty they embody, giving chesed the texture of a bond rather than a momentary sentiment.
titḥassad: You show loyal kindness.
תִּתְחַסֵּד
This form appears in Psalm 18:25, where care shown is answered with care, a reciprocity present in the spies’ promise.
מְבוֹא
mavo
GROWS FROM
בוא
To come or enter.
The Hebrew word for entrance grows from בוא, “come” or “enter,” so the entrance is the point of coming in. The spies ask the man who has come out of the city to show them how to enter it.
ALSO GROWS
bo: Come or enter.
בּוֹא
The root verb supplies the movement that the requested entrance makes possible.
mavo: Entrance or place of entry.
מָבוֹא
This noun names the access point the spies need the man to reveal.
הַשֹּׁמְרִים
hashomrim
GROWS FROM
שמר
To watch, guard, or keep.
The Hebrew calls them watchers or guards, while “spies” names their covert role in the scene. Their watchfulness does not give them the entrance; they still depend on an insider’s knowledge.
ALSO GROWS
shamar: Watch, guard, or keep.
שָׁמַר
The root keeps their role connected to watching and guarding.
mishmeret: A watch, guard, or charge.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This related word names the duty of keeping watch, underscoring the spies’ role as watchers who still need help from within.
THE PATTERN
Loyal care is reciprocal: the person who risks helping another is answered with a promise of care.
Now therefore, I pray you, swear to me by the LORD, since I have done you faithful love, that you will also do faithful love to my father's house, and give me a sign of truth.With the one of faithful love you show yourself faithful love; with the strong and whole one you show yourself whole.Flourishing are the givers of faithful love, for they are shown faithful love.THE THREAD
Now therefore, I pray you, swear to me by the LORD, since I have done you faithful love, that you will also do faithful love to my father's house, and give me a sign of truth.Joshua uses the same word, חֶסֶד (chesed, faithful love), in another exchange between spies and someone who helps them. Rahab first gives them a way into the city, then asks them to return loyal care to her household; Judges reverses the order, with the spies offering chesed first to obtain a way in.
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