What Does 1 Samuel 30:30 Mean in the King James?

And to them which were in Hormah, and to them which were in Chor-ashan, and to them which were in Athach,

1 Samuel 30:30 · KJV

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 first place named among the recipients, Hormah, carries a name rooted in devotion to destruction, yet here it receives a share of recovered spoil.

THE MEANING

Destruction does not define the only thing that can reach a place: Hormah is named among the recipients of shared spoil. What has been recovered moves outward from its holder to particular communities.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A place marked by destruction can only receive loss; here Hormah is named among those receiving a share.

THE ROOT

חָרְמָה

ḥormāh

GROWS FROM

חרם

ḥ-r-m

To place under a ban or devote; in this context, to devote to destruction.

The name carries the idea of something placed under the ban; in Judges, a verb from the same root is translated “utterly destroyed” in the line that names Hormah. Here Hormah appears in the list of places included in the sharing of recovered spoil, putting the name’s hard edge beside an act of provision.

ALSO GROWS

ḥāram: A verb expressing the act of placing something under the ban.

חָרַם

Judges 1:17 uses this verb as “utterly destroyed” in the same line that names the city Hormah.

ḥērem: Something set apart under a ban, often for destruction.

חֵרֶם

This noun holds the same sense of devotion and removal that echoes in Hormah’s name.

THE PATTERN

Recovered abundance moves outward from its holder to supply others.

And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the LORD;

1 Samuel 30:26 · KJVDavid sends recovered spoil beyond himself to the elders and friends named in the surrounding list.

And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.

John 6:11 · KJVWhat is received is distributed outward until the people have as much as they want.

But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:

2 Corinthians 8:14 · KJVAbundance becomes supply for another’s lack, moving in both directions.

THE THREAD

And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah.

Judges 1:17 · KJV

The same root behind Hormah appears here in the phrase “utterly destroyed,” in the line that gives the place its name. In 1 Samuel 30:30, that name stands among the recipients of recovered spoil, holding destruction and provision together.

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