What Does 1 Samuel 10:26 Mean in the King James?
And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and there went with him a band of men, whose hearts God had touched.
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 king named “asked for” goes with men whose hearts God reaches, so their shared movement begins inside before it appears beside him.
THE MEANING
The men beside Saul are not simply there because of his rank; their movement begins in hearts God has touched. That inward contact becomes visible as they go with him, turning separate people into company.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a leader gathers people by status or strength alone dissolves here: the verse locates their joining in hearts God touches.
THE ROOT
נָגַע
nagaʿ
GROWS FROM
נגע
To touch, reach, or strike.
“touched” in this verse is nagaʿ. This root holds both a touch that reaches and a stroke that lands, so contact carries force. Here God’s touch reaches the men’s hearts, and its visible result is that they go with Saul.
ALSO GROWS
higgiaʿ: Reach, arrive.
הִגִּיעַ
This form shows the root’s sense of something coming within reach, as God’s touch reaches inward to the heart.
negaʿ: Stroke, affliction, plague.
נֶגַע
The same root can name contact felt as a blow; here its contact is inward and gathers the men into shared movement.
שָׁאוּל
Sha'ul
GROWS FROM
שאל
To ask or request; Sha’ul carries the sense “asked for.”
“Saul” in this verse is Sha'ul. Sha’ul carries “asked for” inside his name, placing human desire beside divine action in the same verse. The one asked for goes with men whose hearts God has reached, so their company is not explained by his name alone.
ALSO GROWS
sha'al: Ask, request.
שָׁאַל
This verb is the root behind Sha’ul; the name carries the shape “asked for.”
she'elah: Request, petition.
שְׁאֵלָה
The request itself grows from the same ask-root, making the name’s sense part of a wider word-family.
THE PATTERN
God’s inward touch turns separate people toward shared action.
Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the LORD.Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.THE THREAD
And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.The same root, נגע (nagaʿ, touch or reach), describes God touching the men’s hearts here and the coal touching Isaiah’s lips there. In both verses, contact reaches inward and changes what follows.
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