What Does 2 Chronicles 10:10 Mean in the King James?
And the young men that were brought up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou answer the people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it somewhat lighter for us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins.
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 plea for a lighter yoke is answered by turning authority into a contest over how much more force it can impose.
THE MEANING
The young men’s counsel answers a plea for a lighter burden with a threat of greater force: the little finger will be thicker than the father’s loins. The verse shows that a request can be heard and still be answered by magnifying the pressure. Power here defines its greatness by the burden it can impose.
THE ROOT
הִכְבִּיד
hikhbid
GROWS FROM
כבד
To be weighty or to make heavy.
“made our yoke heavy” in this verse is hikhbid. This root also carries the sense of weight and honor. The people name their burden with the same seed that can name weight or stature; the counselors turn greater force into a claim of greatness.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy, weighty.
כָּבֵד
It makes the yoke’s burden part of the word’s own sense of weight.
kavod: Weight, honor, glory.
כָּבוֹד
This branch holds weight and honor together, illuminating how the counselors frame greater force as greater stature.
הָקֵל
haqel
GROWS FROM
קלל
To be light, make light, or treat as slight.
“make it lighter” in this verse is haqel. The people’s request is literally to lighten the yoke. This root also reaches toward treating something as slight, while the counsel answers the request by making the people bear a greater claim of force.
ALSO GROWS
qal: Light, slight.
קַל
This is the quality the people ask for in the yoke: less weight.
qelalah: Curse, reviling.
קְלָלָה
This branch carries the sense of treating something as slight; the boast makes the plea seem small beside the ruler’s force.
גָּדְלוּ
gadlu
GROWS FROM
גדל
To grow or become great.
“brought up with him” in this verse is gadlu. The Hebrew says these young men grew up with him. The same root yields words for greatness, and their counsel defines the ruler’s greatness by surpassing his father’s force.
ALSO GROWS
gadol: Great, large.
גָּדוֹל
The word for growth also describes greatness, echoing the counsel’s boast of exceeding the father.
gedullah: Greatness, majesty.
גְּדֻלָּה
This branch exposes the measure their counsel offers for royal greatness: greater force and a heavier burden.
THE PATTERN
A system’s nature is exposed by whether it answers a plea to lighten a burden by increasing it or by loosening its hold.
Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.THE THREAD
And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him:The Hebrew verb rendered “hardened” uses the same כבד root as “made our yoke heavy” here. One names weight imposed on people; the other names heaviness in the heart, holding outward burden and inward weight together.
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