What Does 1 Samuel 29:4 Mean in the King James?
And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us: for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master? should it not be with the heads of these men?
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
Hebrew names the danger as a role David might occupy: a companion could become an adversary when allegiance turns.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you where shared purpose becomes uncertain: someone beside you can be imagined as the one who will turn against you under pressure. The fear sharpens into a brutal calculation, proving loyalty to one master may require the heads of the people standing beside you. Mistrust makes the ally’s nearness feel dangerous.
THE ROOT
לְשָׂטָן
le-satan
GROWS FROM
שׂטן
To oppose or act as an adversary.
Here לְשָׂטָן (le-satan, “as an adversary”) has no definite article: it names the role David might take, not a fixed identity. The verb form in Psalm 109:4 shows the same root naming the act of opposition itself, making adversary a living relation between people.
ALSO GROWS
le-satan: An opponent, one who stands against another.
לְשָׂטָן
In Numbers 22:22, the LORD’s messenger stands in Balaam’s path לְשָׂטָן (le-satan), “for an adversary”; the word marks opposition in that moment.
yistenuni: They act as adversaries against me.
יִשְׂטְנוּנִי
In Psalm 109:4 the root becomes a verb, showing that opposition is the act that makes someone an adversary.
THE PATTERN
An adversary is named by the opposition they enact in a relationship, not only by a fixed identity.
And God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.THE THREAD
And God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.The Hebrew phrase לְשָׂטָן (le-satan, “for an adversary”) here is the same word used when the LORD’s messenger stands against Balaam. The shared root shows that “adversary” names a position of opposition in a relationship, rather than a permanent label for someone’s nature.
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