What Does 1 Samuel 14:45 Mean in the King James?
And the people said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid: as the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he hath wrought with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, that he died not.
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 people name Jonathan’s deed deliverance, then make deliverance tangible by rescuing the deliverer from death.
THE MEANING
You see Jonathan’s life threatened by Saul’s vow even after he has brought great deliverance to Israel. The people name what he has done, refuse to treat his death as inevitable, and rescue him. Deliverance moves both ways: Jonathan works with God for Israel, and Israel intervenes to preserve Jonathan.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a ruler’s vow makes a person’s death inevitable: the people refuse Saul’s sentence, and Jonathan lives.
THE ROOT
הַיְשׁוּעָה
hayeshuah
GROWS FROM
ישע
y-sh-ʿ
To deliver, bringing someone out of constriction into safety and spaciousness.
“salvation” in this verse is hayeshuah. The verse calls Jonathan’s deed יְשׁוּעָה (yeshuah), deliverance: the word names a movement out of danger, not simply a victory. Its root also forms the verb for delivering, so the people’s next act, rescuing Jonathan, extends the deliverance they have just named.
ALSO GROWS
yeshuah: Deliverance
יְשׁוּעָה
This is the form used for Jonathan’s great deed in the verse.
hoshia: To deliver or bring to safety
הוֹשִׁיעַ
This verb from the same root shows deliverance as an active bringing out of danger.
moshia: Deliverer
מוֹשִׁיעַ
This form names the one who brings deliverance, illuminating how the people now protect Jonathan, the deliverer.
וַיִּפְדּוּ
wayyipdu
GROWS FROM
פדה
p-d-h
To ransom, redeem, or secure someone’s release.
The Hebrew verb behind “rescued” carries the sense of ransoming or securing release. After the people recognize Jonathan’s deliverance of Israel, they themselves act to bring him out from under the threat of death.
ALSO GROWS
padah: To ransom or redeem
פָּדָה
This verb is the root of the people’s act of rescuing Jonathan.
pidyon: Ransom or redemption
פִּדְיוֹן
This noun from the same root makes the cost and release contained in the rescue more visible.
יְהוֹנָתָן
Yehonatan
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place; Yehonatan means “YHWH has given.”
Jonathan’s name holds the sense “YHWH has given.” In the verse, the people refuse to let this life be taken after recognizing the deliverance he has brought with God.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place
נָתַן
This verb is the root within Yehonatan’s name.
mattanah: Gift or present
מַתָּנָה
This related word carries the root’s sense of what is given, echoing the meaning held in Jonathan’s name.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance takes shape when threatened lives are carried out of death’s reach.
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.THE THREAD
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.Both verses use יְשׁוּעָה (yeshuah), deliverance, from ישע (yasha), to bring out of constriction into safety. In Exodus the people see deliverance from Egypt; here Israel recognizes it in Jonathan’s work and then enacts it for Jonathan himself.
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