What Does 2 Samuel 14:25 Mean in the King James?
But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.
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
Absalom’s body is praised as flawless, while his name means “father of peace,” keeping visible perfection distinct from wholeness.
THE MEANING
Your visible form can draw praise from head to foot, and that praise can be true on its own terms. Absalom’s name means “father of peace,” but the verse’s measure remains bodily beauty, not inward wholeness. A flawless appearance does not tell the whole story of a person.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A flawless appearance proves a flawless person. The verse confines its praise to beauty, leaving inward wholeness unclaimed.
THE ROOT
מוּם
mum
GROWS FROM
מום
mum
Blemish, defect, or physical flaw.
The same word that names bodily blemish also marks defects in offerings; here, its absence describes Absalom’s physical completeness. The word does not declare every dimension of the person whole.
ALSO GROWS
mum: A blemish or defect.
מוּם
This is the singular word used in the verse, tying the praise directly to the absence of a physical flaw.
mumim: Blemishes or defects.
מוּמִים
The plural keeps the image concrete: the verse presents Absalom as having no physical defect from foot to head.
לְהַלֵּל
lehallel
GROWS FROM
הלל
halal
Praise or boast.
“Praised” in this verse is lehallel. The word describes an act of praise, so the verse reports what draws admiration rather than declaring the whole person admirable. This root also forms a word for boasting, keeping public praise close to self-exaltation.
ALSO GROWS
tehillah: Praise.
תְּהִלָּה
This branch makes the public quality of the admiration explicit.
hithallel: Boast or glory in oneself.
הִתְהַלֵּל
The same root can describe boasting, showing how praise and self-exaltation share a linguistic seed.
אַבְשָׁלוֹם
Avshalom
GROWS FROM
שלם
shalem
Whole, complete, or made complete.
Absalom’s name joins “father” to the root of wholeness. The name carries that nature beside a verse that measures his completeness by visible beauty, without equating bodily perfection with inward wholeness.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Peace, well-being, or wholeness.
שָׁלוֹם
This is the name’s second element and gives Absalom’s name its language of wholeness.
shalem: Whole or complete.
שָׁלֵם
This form makes the root’s sense of completeness visible alongside the verse’s description of an unblemished body.
THE PATTERN
Visible beauty can draw praise without revealing the whole condition of a person.
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.THE THREAD
And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.The same word for “blemish” describes Absalom’s body and a defect in an offering. Its shared use reveals a measure of physical completeness, while leaving the condition of a person’s heart unstated.
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