What Does 1 Samuel 10:24 Mean in the King James?
And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king.
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 crowd’s “God save the king” is a wish for him to live: the people answer God’s choosing by voicing life.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s choosing stands before you in a person the people can see, and they answer with a public cry for his life. Recognition and petition meet here: authority is acknowledged, while the ruler’s life is entrusted to God.
THE ROOT
יְחִי
yeḥî
GROWS FROM
חיה
To live, be alive.
“save” in this verse is yeḥî. The Hebrew cry carries the wish “may the king live.” Its root also forms words for the living and for life, so the crowd’s answer is a public petition for the king’s continued life.
ALSO GROWS
ḥay: Living; alive.
חַי
The crowd’s wish for the king to live belongs to the same word family as being alive.
ḥayyim: Life.
חַיִּים
This branch makes the life at the center of the acclamation explicit.
בָּחַר
bāḥar
GROWS FROM
בחר
To choose, select, or single out.
“chosen” in this verse is bāḥar. The line pairs choosing with seeing: Samuel points to the person in whom the LORD’s choice is made visible. The people are invited to recognize that choice in the one standing before them.
ALSO GROWS
bāḥîr: Chosen one; elect.
בָּחִיר
This noun names a person as the one selected, echoing the king identified before the assembly.
mibḥār: Choice; choicest selection.
מִבְחָר
This branch carries the act of choosing into the thing or person selected.
THE PATTERN
Public words turn a ruler’s authority into a shared petition for the ruler’s life and the community’s well-being.
And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised.For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.THE THREAD
Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.Deuteronomy uses the same root בחר (bāḥar, to choose) for the king the LORD selects. Here Samuel makes that choice visible to the people, who answer it with their cry for the king’s life.
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