What Does 1 Samuel 20:30 Mean in the King James?
Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother’s nakedness?
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 Hebrew casts Jonathan as actively choosing David, so Saul’s accusation targets an allegiance still being lived, not a decision sealed in the past.
THE MEANING
Saul’s anger calls Jonathan’s allegiance a shameful choice and extends the insult to his mother’s nakedness. The accusation shows a demand for loyalty that reaches beyond Jonathan himself and tries to turn his choice into a family disgrace.
THE ROOT
בֹּחֵר
bōḥēr
GROWS FROM
בחר
The root בחר (b-ḥ-r) means to choose or select.
בֹּחֵר is an active participle: Saul describes Jonathan as choosing David, a present allegiance. The same root names both the act of choosing and the one chosen, keeping Jonathan’s action and David’s place within one word family.
ALSO GROWS
bāḥar: To choose or select.
בָּחַר
This verb makes clear that Saul’s anger centers on Jonathan’s act of choosing David.
bāḥīr: Chosen one.
בָּחִיר
The same root names the person selected, linking Jonathan’s choice to David’s position.
mibḥār: A choice or selection; something selected.
מִבְחָר
This noun carries the root’s sense of selection into the result of a choice.
THE PATTERN
Choosing one allegiance exposes which competing claim a person serves.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.THE THREAD
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:The same Hebrew root בחר (b-ḥ-r, to choose) that names Jonathan’s choice appears in the command to choose life. That verse says the choice reaches thy seed, echoing how Saul makes Jonathan’s allegiance carry into an insult against his mother.
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