What Does 1 Samuel 9:25 Mean in the King James?
And when they were come down from the high place into the city, Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house.
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 conversation does not end at the high place: it continues after the descent, on a roof above the city.
THE MEANING
You come down from a high place, yet the meaningful exchange continues above the city, on a house roof. The scene holds speech at a threshold: no longer at the height, not yet inside the rooms below.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that an encounter ends when you leave a set-apart place dissolves here: the conversation continues after the descent.
THE ROOT
וַיְדַבֵּר
waydabbēr
GROWS FROM
דבר
d-b-r
To speak.
The verb rendered “communed” comes from the root דבר (d-b-r, “speak”). Its related noun דָּבָר (dāvar, “word” or “matter”) lets speech carry the sense of something with substance: this is an exchange taking place in the middle of ordinary life.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: He spoke.
דִּבֵּר
This is the speaking verb from the same root as the word translated “communed.”
dāvar: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The shared root links speech with what is spoken about: words belong to the substance of life.
שָׁאוּל
Sha'ul
GROWS FROM
שאל
sh-ʾ-l
To ask or request.
Saul’s name carries the sense “asked for” or “requested.” The verse places this named one in direct conversation with Samuel, so the encounter stands beside a name shaped by asking.
ALSO GROWS
sha'al: To ask or request.
שָׁאַל
This verb shares the root of Saul’s name and makes the idea of asking audible within it.
she'elah: A question or request.
שְׁאֵלָה
This noun grows from the same root, showing how Saul’s name echoes the language of asking.
THE PATTERN
Elevated thresholds become places where words move from encounter toward the life of a community.
And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:THE THREAD
After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.Samuel’s “communed” is וַיְדַבֵּר (waydabbēr, “and he spoke”), from דָּבָר (dāvar, “speak”). Genesis 15:1 uses that same root in דְּבַר (dĕvar, “word”), where the word comes to Abram as an encounter.
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