What Does 1 Samuel 21:14 Mean in the King James?
Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me?
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
Achish’s label turns a visible appearance into a verdict that closes the door to the person.
THE MEANING
When you are reduced to a label, the room can stop asking who you are; Achish moves straight from calling the man mad to asking why he was brought. The verse shows how a judgment based on appearances can harden into exclusion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A label based on what someone appears to be does not reveal the whole person.
THE ROOT
מִשְׁתַּגֵּעַ
mishtagea
GROWS FROM
שגע
shagaʿ
To be mad or behave wildly.
The form describes someone acting mad, naming what Achish sees rather than revealing the man’s inner state. The same root supplies words for both a person called mad and madness itself, showing how an appearance can become an identity in the observer’s eyes.
ALSO GROWS
meshugga: Mad; a madman.
מְשֻׁגָּע
This word labels a person by the behavior others perceive, as in 2 Kings 9:11.
shigga'on: Madness; derangement.
שִׁגָּעוֹן
The noun names the condition itself, extending the same root from a person’s apparent behavior to a category of mind.
THE PATTERN
When a person’s words or conduct unsettle the room, observers can use the label of madness to shut down the question of what they are saying.
Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said unto him, Is all well? wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? And he said unto them, Ye know the man, and his communication.The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.THE THREAD
Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?The next verse repeats the שגע root in “mad men” and “play the mad man,” making the label explicit. Achish turns what he sees into a category, then uses that category to deny the man entry to his house.
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