What Does 1 Samuel 17:48 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
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
What English compresses into “the army,” Hebrew opens as an ordered battle line, then narrows David’s run to one man.
THE MEANING
When opposition comes close, the verse lets you see it without making it the only movement in the scene: David runs toward the line and the Philistine. The outcome remains unseen, but his direction is already clear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that once opposition advances, you can only be acted upon.
THE ROOT
לִקְרַאת
liqrat
GROWS FROM
קרא
q-r-ʾ
Call, summon, proclaim, or read; in this form, to go toward and meet.
“meet” in this verse is liqrat. The word for meeting grows from a root whose branches include calling aloud and gathering. David is not merely moving toward a place; the verse presents him moving toward a face-to-face encounter.
ALSO GROWS
qara: Call, proclaim, or read aloud
קָרָא
The same root gives the encounter its active sense of coming face-to-face.
miqra: A reading or convocation
מִקְרָא
This branch names a gathering called into being, extending the root’s movement toward encounter.
מַעֲרָכָה
ma'arakhah
GROWS FROM
ערך
ʿ-r-kh
Arrange or set in order.
The Hebrew word rendered “army” also names an ordered battle line or array. David’s movement is toward that formation, then toward the Philistine himself: the root reveals the scene’s shift from ranks to a direct encounter.
ALSO GROWS
ʿarakh: Arrange or set in order
עָרַךְ
This verb is the seed behind the arranged battle line David runs toward.
ma'arekhet: A row, arrangement, or array
מַעֲרֶכֶת
This related form makes the ordered structure within “army” visible.
דָּוִד
Dawid
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved; one who is loved.
David’s name carries the nature of the beloved. Here that name is attached to movement into danger, holding belovedness and approach together while the outcome remains unknown.
ALSO GROWS
dod: Beloved or close kinsman
דּוֹד
This related word preserves the name’s sense of one who is loved.
dodim: Loves or endearments
דּוֹדִים
This form makes the root’s connection to love explicit.
THE PATTERN
A coming threat does not determine the direction of the one who meets it; movement can begin before the outcome is known.
For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,THE THREAD
For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.The Hebrew verbs translated “ran” here and “run” in the psalm share the root רוץ (ruts), to run. In one verse David runs toward the battle line and the Philistine; in the other, he runs through a troop, joining motion and danger across both passages.
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