What Does 1 Samuel 23:7 Mean in the King James?
And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars.
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 root behind “shut in” can also mean “hand over,” making Saul’s leap from enclosure to capture visible inside the Hebrew word-family.
THE MEANING
When your circumstances narrow, a closed boundary can look like the whole verdict, and this verse exposes how quickly that appearance can be named as God’s decision. Saul sees the barred city as proof that David is already in his hand, but the verse leaves that certainty as Saul’s conclusion, not a revealed outcome.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A closed door or narrowing circumstance does not prove that God has surrendered you to the force pressing in.
THE ROOT
סָגַר
sāgar
GROWS FROM
ס־ג־ר
to shut, close, or enclose
“shut in” in this verse is sāgar. The root סגר (sāgar, “to shut or enclose”) also forms a verb for handing someone over. That connection illuminates Saul’s assumption: he treats David’s enclosure as proof of surrender, though the walls alone do not settle who controls the outcome.
ALSO GROWS
sagur: shut or enclosed
סָגוּר
This form makes the physical boundary in Saul’s reasoning concrete: David is inside a city with gates and bars.
hisgīr: to hand someone over or deliver them up
הִסְגִּיר
This branch links being shut in with being surrendered, while the verse leaves Saul’s confidence that one guarantees the other open to question.
THE PATTERN
Being enclosed is not the same as having the outcome decided.
For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;THE THREAD
Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver thee up.The Hebrew יַסְגִּירוּ (yasgīrū, “they will hand over”) belongs to the same root סגר (sāgar, “to shut or enclose”) as “shut in” in verse 7. The root sharpens the distinction: the city encloses David, but its people may hand him over, so the walls alone do not tell Saul what will happen.
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