What Does 1 Samuel 20:37 Mean in the King James?
And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee?
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 word for “shot” also gives “instruction”: Jonathan’s arrow is a message cast ahead.
THE MEANING
A sign speaks through where it lands: the arrow has gone beyond the lad, and Jonathan names that distance aloud. What is sent ahead can reveal direction before it is explained in words.
THE ROOT
יָרָה
yārāh
GROWS FROM
ירה
To cast or throw; in related usage, to direct or teach.
The verb for Jonathan’s arrow being shot, yārāh, also gives words for instruction and teaching. Hebrew lets the arrow’s flight and the act of teaching share one seed: what is cast forward can point the way.
ALSO GROWS
tôrāh: Instruction; teaching
תּוֹרָה
Torah shares this root, joining what is cast forward with guidance that points toward a path.
mōreh: Teacher; one who instructs
מוֹרֶה
The teacher sends direction forward, much as the arrow marks a direction beyond the lad.
יְהוֹנָתָן
Yehonatan
GROWS FROM
נתן
To give, set, or place.
Yehonatan means “YHWH has given.” The name’s root of giving and placing echoes the scene: Jonathan sends an arrow into place as a signal.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place
נָתַן
This is the verbal root carried in Jonathan’s name.
mattanāh: Gift
מַתָּנָה
This noun from the same root makes the name’s sense of giving audible.
THE PATTERN
A sign sent ahead can carry direction before words confirm it.
But if I say thus unto the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee; go thy way: for the LORD hath sent thee away.Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.THE THREAD
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.The “shot” in this verse and the “teach” and “law” in Isaiah 2:3 are tied to the root יָרָה (yārāh), meaning to cast or throw, and also to teach. Here the arrow marks a direction; in Isaiah, instruction goes forth and becomes a path to walk.
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