What Does 1 Chronicles 23:16 Mean in the King James?

Of the sons of Gershom, Shebuel was the chief.

1 Chronicles 23:16 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The “chief” is literally “the head,” placing Shebuel at the head of Gershom’s family line.

THE MEANING

The verse names Shebuel as the head among Gershom’s sons. Leadership is embedded in kinship and made visible through a particular person.

THE ROOT

הָרֹאשׁ

ha-rosh

GROWS FROM

ראש

Head or top; by extension, chief or beginning.

Here ⁨הָרֹאשׁ⁩ (ha-rosh, “the head” or “chief”) preserves the bodily image inside the title: Shebuel occupies the head position among Gershom’s sons. The related ⁨רָאשִׁים⁩ (roshim, “heads”) and ⁨רֵאשִׁית⁩ (reshit, “beginning” or “first”) let the idea of chief extend toward being at the head of a line.

ALSO GROWS

roshim: Heads or chiefs.

רָאשִׁים

The plural form keeps the same root and shows that “head” can name a position held within a group.

reshit: Beginning, first, or firstfruits.

רֵאשִׁית

This branch carries the image of being at the head of a sequence, illuminating the place Shebuel holds in the family line.

THE PATTERN

A head is named in relation to the people or body it belongs to.

And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

Exodus 18:25 · KJVThe heads are identified within Israel’s people and given their place among them.

And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

1 Corinthians 12:21 · KJVThe head is part of a body whose members remain connected and need one another.

THE THREAD

And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

Genesis 2:10 · KJV

The Hebrew ⁨רָאשִׁים⁩ (roshim, “heads”) in Genesis 2:10 shares the root ⁨ראש⁩ with ⁨הָרֹאשׁ⁩ (ha-rosh, “the head” or “chief”) here. The river’s heads reveal a root that can describe the head of a flow as well as the head of a family line.

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