What Does Judges 20:27 Mean?
And the children of Israel asked of the LORD, for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days.
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 children of Israel enquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,THE KEY
The question is asked from inside covenant presence, not from outside it.
THE MEANING
Your question can be spoken within covenant presence already surrounding you. Asking does not create that relationship; the verse places inquiry inside a bond already held in view. The ark makes that nearness tangible in the passage.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that asking means the covenant bond is absent.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁאֲלוּ
vayyish'alu
GROWS FROM
שאל
to ask, request, or inquire
The verse’s “enquired” is an act of asking, and the same root also names a request and what is asked for. Inquiry here sits alongside the ark of the covenant: asking unfolds within a relationship already signaled by presence.
ALSO GROWS
she'elah: A request or question
שְׁאֵלָה
It shows that the root holds both the act of asking and the question or request brought forward.
sha'ul: Asked for or requested; also the name Saul
שָׁאוּל
This form carries the sense of being asked for, extending the root from the question to what is sought.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents asking as something spoken within relationship and the presence of God.
Therefore David asked the LORD, saying, Shall I go and strike down these Philistines? And the LORD said to David, Go, and strike down the Philistines, and deliver Keilah.One thing I ask of the LORD, this I will seek; that I may settle in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the sweetness of the LORD, and to search out in his temple.But if any of you is left behind in wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all without doubling and without taunting, and it will be given him.THE THREAD
One thing I ask of the LORD, this I will seek; that I may settle in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the sweetness of the LORD, and to search out in his temple.The word rendered “desired” comes from שאל, the same root as “enquired” here. David’s desire and Israel’s inquiry are both forms of asking, voiced alongside the presence of God.
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