What Does 2 Samuel 18:3 Mean in the King James?
But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city.
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 king is worth ten thousand because help is measured by what his position can preserve, not by how many dangers he enters.
THE MEANING
Your value is not measured only by how much danger you personally enter; the verse gives weight to what your presence can preserve for others. The people call the king worth ten thousand and locate his help in the city, while speaking plainly about the flight and death they may face.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that love or loyalty is proved only by taking the same risks as everyone else.
THE ROOT
לַעֲזֹר
la'azor
GROWS FROM
עזר
to help, aid, or come to another’s support
“succour” in this verse is la'azor. The Hebrew joins the king’s position in the city to the root for help: remaining there is a way of aiding the people. The same root names both the help and the helper, joining an act of support with the role that sustains others.
ALSO GROWS
ʿezer: help, aid
עֵזֶר
This noun names the help the king is asked to provide from the city.
ʿozer: helper, one who aids
עֹזֵר
This form names the one supplying help, linking the king’s place to his function for the people.
THE PATTERN
A community is strengthened when its members support one another from the positions where they can preserve the whole.
But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.THE THREAD
My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.Psalm 121 uses the same Hebrew root, עזר (ʿ-z-r), for “help” that appears in “succour” here. In Samuel the king is to remain positioned as help for the people; the psalm names the LORD as the source of that help.
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