What Does 2 Kings 5:24 Mean in the King James?
And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed.
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 gifts are hidden, then the men are sent away: the verse makes concealment a sequence of deliberate acts.
THE MEANING
The goods pass from the men’s hands into the house, and then Gehazi sends the men away. Their departure hides the taking from view, but it does not undo what has happened.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that removing witnesses removes the reality of what was taken.
THE ROOT
וַיְשַׁלַּח
wayšallaḥ
GROWS FROM
שלח
Send forth, send away, release.
“let the men go” in this verse is wayšallaḥ. The men do not simply depart: Gehazi actively sends them away, using the root שלח, which can also mean release or send forth. The root names a movement; here, the surrounding actions show that the send-off serves concealment.
ALSO GROWS
shilluach: Sending away; dismissal.
שִׁלּוּחַ
This related form makes the deliberate send-off visible in the verse: Gehazi dismisses the men after putting the goods away.
Shiloach: Sent; the name associated with the waters of Siloam.
שִׁלֹחַ
The same root can name water sent outward. Here it names people sent away, showing how the purpose of the sending comes from the scene around the word.
THE PATTERN
Hiding what has been taken can delay its exposure, but concealment does not erase the truth of the act.
When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.THE THREAD
And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.The Hebrew root שלח, meaning send forth or release, is behind Gehazi sending the men away and the command to Pharaoh to let the people go. In this verse the send-off clears the way for concealment; in Exodus, release opens a way out of bondage.
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