What Does 1 Samuel 14:36 Mean in the King James?
And Saul said, Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and spoil them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them. And they said, Do whatsoever seemeth good unto thee. Then said the priest, Let us draw near hither unto God.
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 priest’s call to draw near shares its root with the word for an offering brought near, placing approach to God beside Saul’s stated aim to leave no survivor.
THE MEANING
When urgency narrows around a plan of destruction, this verse puts another movement into the moment: drawing near to God. Saul’s words name the intended violence plainly, while the priest calls the company toward God; the verse holds both in view. Nearness does not make the violence disappear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a plan becomes self-authorizing once everyone agrees to it: the company consents to Saul’s proposal, yet the priest still calls them to draw near to God.
THE ROOT
נִקְרְבָה
niqrevah
GROWS FROM
קרב
Q-R-B
Approach, come near, draw close.
English makes “draw near” sound like a spatial phrase, but its root also names closeness and stands behind קָרְבָּן (qorban, offering). The priest’s words place movement toward God inside the company’s movement toward the Philistines, leaving the tension between the two exposed.
ALSO GROWS
qarav: Approach, come near.
קָרַב
This is the verb’s root form, making the priest’s call a concrete movement toward God.
qarov: Near, close.
קָרוֹב
This branch shows that the root holds closeness as well as the act of approaching.
qorban: Offering.
קָרְבָּן
The offering’s name shares the root of drawing near, linking approach to God with a concrete act.
THE PATTERN
Consequential action is repeatedly placed alongside an approach to God, making nearness part of the decision itself.
And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.Therefore David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the LORD said unto David, Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah.Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.THE THREAD
But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.Psalm 73:28 uses the same Hebrew root קרב (qarav, approach or come near) as the priest’s call here. It names nearness to God as good and joins it to trust, opening the call as an invitation into closeness even within a violent decision.
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