What Does 1 Samuel 10:23 Mean in the King James?
And they ran and fetched him thence: and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.
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 Hebrew word for Saul’s height shares a root with words for loftiness and haughtiness, linking bodily elevation with the language of exaltation.
THE MEANING
Saul stands among the people, his body visibly rising above them from the shoulders upward. That height is plain to see, but it does not by itself reveal what is in his heart.
THE ROOT
וַיִּגְבַּהּ
vayyigbah
GROWS FROM
גבה
To be high or rise above.
“higher” in this verse is vayyigbah. English makes this sound like a simple measurement, while the Hebrew root also appears in words for loftiness and haughtiness. Here it describes Saul’s body rising above the crowd; the shared root lets that visible height echo the language of exaltation without declaring what kind of person he is.
ALSO GROWS
gāḇōah: High, tall, elevated.
גָּבֹהַּ
This related form makes the physical sense clear: Saul’s height places him above the people in their sight.
gavhuth: Loftiness, haughtiness.
גַּבְהוּת
This form appears in Isaiah’s description of human pride, showing how the same root can describe inward exaltation as well as bodily height.
THE PATTERN
Visible elevation can command attention without revealing a person’s inward measure.
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.THE THREAD
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.The verb for Saul’s height, וַיִּגְבַּהּ (vayyigbah, rose high), shares the גבה (gābah, be high) root with Isaiah’s word for human haughtiness. The shared root links bodily height with exaltation, while this verse leaves Saul’s character unjudged.
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