What Does 1 Samuel 24:18 Mean in the King James?
And thou hast shewed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as when the LORD had delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not.
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 behind “delivered” pictures David shut into Saul’s hand, so Saul’s goodness appears in what he does not do with that power.
THE MEANING
When another person is within your reach, the chance to harm them is not the same as a command to do so. Restraint becomes visible in the very moment when violence is possible, and the vulnerable person can recognize what you chose not to do.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Having someone in your power does not make harming them inevitable or right.
THE ROOT
סִגְּרַנִי
siggerani
GROWS FROM
סגר
s-g-r
To shut or close; in this form, to shut someone in or hand them over.
Under “delivered” is the enclosing image of סגר (s-g-r), meaning “shut” or “close”: the line pictures David shut into Saul’s hand. That root holds both the danger of Saul’s power and the bounded moment in which he does not use it to kill.
ALSO GROWS
sāgar: To shut, close.
סָגַר
This basic form keeps the enclosing image present beneath “delivered.”
hisgir: To hand over, surrender into another’s power.
הִסְגִּיר
This related form shows how closing someone in can become handing them over, the danger named in the verse.
THE PATTERN
The power to harm is measured by whether it becomes harm, not merely by whether the chance appears.
If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.THE THREAD
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.The LORD’s “shut him in” uses the same Hebrew root, סגר (sāgar), meaning “shut” or “close,” that lies beneath “delivered” here. One enclosure preserves Noah; the other places David within Saul’s reach, and Saul’s choice keeps that access from becoming death.
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