What Does 2 Samuel 16:18 Mean in the King James?
And Hushai said unto Absalom, Nay; but whom the LORD, and this people, and all the men of Israel, choose, his will I be, and with him will I abide.
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 hidden hinge is that Hushai pledges himself to whoever is chosen, not explicitly to Absalom.
THE MEANING
Hushai’s words sound like a pledge to Absalom, but they bind him to whoever the LORD and Israel choose. The verse makes the hidden condition legible: a promise can be spoken to one person while its allegiance rests on the answer to another question.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a promise addressed to you necessarily pledges allegiance to you: Hushai names the chosen one as the condition, leaving the recipient open.
THE ROOT
בָּחַר
bāḥar
GROWS FROM
בחר
Choose, select.
The verb בָּחַר (bāḥar, to choose) belongs with בָּחִיר (bāḥîr, the chosen one) and מִבְחָר (mibḥār, choice or choicest): selection and the selected person share one word family. So “his will I be” is anchored to the outcome of the choosing, not to the man Hushai is addressing.
ALSO GROWS
bāḥîr: Chosen one; one selected.
בָּחִיר
The pledge attaches Hushai to the person who is chosen.
mibḥār: Choice; choicest selection.
מִבְחָר
This branch keeps the act of choosing and its result joined in the same root family.
אֵשֵׁב
ʾēšēḇ
GROWS FROM
ישב
Sit, dwell, remain.
אֵשֵׁב (ʾēšēḇ, I will sit or remain) comes from יָשַׁב (yāšaḇ, sit or dwell). A מוֹשָׁב (môšāḇ, dwelling or seat) is a settled place, while יֹשֵׁב (yōšēḇ, inhabitant) names someone who occupies it; “abide” gives the pledge the sense of remaining beside someone.
ALSO GROWS
môšāḇ: Dwelling place; seat.
מוֹשָׁב
It gives “abide” the sense of a settled place beside the chosen person.
yōšēḇ: One who sits or dwells; inhabitant.
יֹשֵׁב
This branch makes staying a continuing presence, not just a spoken promise.
THE PATTERN
Allegiance becomes visible through whom one chooses and where one remains.
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.THE THREAD
And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king.The same choosing root appears as Samuel points the people to the one the LORD has selected, and the people answer by acclaiming the king. It sharpens Hushai’s phrasing: the question beneath his pledge is who the LORD and the people recognize as chosen.
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