What Does Judges 9:44 Mean?
And Abimelech and the heads that were with him spread out and stood in the opening of the gate of the city; and the two other heads ran upon all the people in the fields, and slew them.
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 Abimelech, and the company that was with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entering of the gate of the city: and the two other companies ran upon all the people that were in the fields, and slew them.THE KEY
Hebrew repeats one verb for the force advancing to the gate and the companies attacking the fields: one assault spreads across two fronts.
THE MEANING
The attack divides into two fronts: Abimelech’s company holds the city gate, while two other companies strike everyone in the fields and kill them. The gate is occupied as the violence reaches people outside the city.
THE ROOT
פָּשְׁטוּ
pāšəṭū
GROWS FROM
פשט
To strip off; in military use, to raid or attack.
“spread out” in this verse is pāšəṭū. English gives the two movements different verbs, but Hebrew repeats פשט (pāšaṭ, to raid or advance upon). The repeated root makes the gate position and the field attack parts of one spreading assault.
ALSO GROWS
stripped: Removed clothing or covering.
Genesis 37:23 uses this root when Joseph’s brothers strip off his coat; it shows the root’s concrete sense of taking something away.
invaded: Raided or attacked territory.
In 1 Samuel 27:8, the same root describes David and his men invading neighboring peoples, preserving the military sense heard here.
THE PATTERN
Coordinated force uses numbers and positioning to overwhelm the people it targets.
And he took the people and divided them into three heads, and lay in wait in the field; and he looked, and behold, the people had come out of the city; and he rose up against them, and struck them.And David went up, he and his men, and spread out against the Geshurites, the Gezrites, and the Amalekites, for they were those who settled the land from the ages, as you come to Shur, even to the land of Egypt.Then the coiled band, and the commander of a thousand, and the attendants of the Judeans seized Jesus and bound him.THE THREAD
And David went up, he and his men, and spread out against the Geshurites, the Gezrites, and the Amalekites, for they were those who settled the land from the ages, as you come to Shur, even to the land of Egypt.The Hebrew verb פשט (pāšaṭ, to raid or advance upon) appears in both verses. In Judges, English renders it once as “rushed forward” and again as “ran upon”; in Samuel, the same root appears as “invaded,” revealing one verb for the spreading movement and the attack.
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