What Does 1 Samuel 9:5 Mean in the King James?
And when they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that was with him, Come, and let us return; lest my father leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us.
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 search turns when Saul realizes that his father may now be worrying over the searchers, not only the missing donkeys.
THE MEANING
The verse lets you feel a search change center: the donkeys are still missing, yet Saul sees that his father may now be anxious for him and his companion. The possibility of their father’s worry turns their attention homeward.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that finishing the search matters more than the people doing it is undone when Saul turns back because his father may be worrying for them.
THE ROOT
וְדָאַג
wə-da'ag
GROWS FROM
דאג
To be anxious or troubled with concern.
The KJV phrase “take thought” can sound like ordinary planning, but וְדָאַג names active worry. The same root appears when Saul’s father “sorroweth” for him in the next chapter: the anxiety Saul anticipates is already a real bond between them.
ALSO GROWS
da'ag: To be anxious or worry.
דָּאַג
This verb names the worry Saul anticipates in his father, rather than mere consideration.
de'agah: Anxiety or concern.
דְּאָגָה
This noun form appears as “heaviness” in Proverbs 12:25, showing how the same root names concern that weighs on the heart.
שָׁאוּל
Sha'ul
GROWS FROM
שׁאל
To ask, inquire, or request.
Saul’s name carries the sense of “asked for,” from the same root as the people’s request for a king. His name brings that asking into the scene as he speaks of his father’s concern for him.
ALSO GROWS
sha'al: To ask, inquire, or request.
שָׁאַל
In 1 Samuel 8:10 this root describes the people who ask Samuel for a king, linking Saul’s name to that request.
she'elah: A request or petition.
שְׁאֵלָה
This noun preserves the root’s movement from asking to what is asked for, which the name Sha’ul compresses.
THE PATTERN
When absence begins to hurt, attention shifts from the search’s object to the person who is missing.
When thou art departed from me to day, then thou shalt find two men by Rachel’s sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say unto thee, The asses which thou wentest to seek are found: and, lo, thy father hath left the care of the asses, and sorroweth for you, saying, What shall I do for my son?And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.THE THREAD
When thou art departed from me to day, then thou shalt find two men by Rachel’s sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say unto thee, The asses which thou wentest to seek are found: and, lo, thy father hath left the care of the asses, and sorroweth for you, saying, What shall I do for my son?The “take thought” here and “sorroweth” there translate the same Hebrew verb, דאג (da’ag): the worry Saul anticipates is his father’s reality. The next verse opens this one further by showing that his father has left the donkeys to worry about his son.
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