What Does 2 Samuel 2:23 Mean in the King James?
Howbeit he refused to turn aside: wherefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there, and died in the same place: and it came to pass, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still.
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 pursuit reaches its fatal point when Asahel refuses to turn back, and the place of his death makes every passerby stop.
THE MEANING
The scene holds Asahel’s unrelenting pursuit and the spear thrust that kills him. The place is marked by his death; everyone who comes upon it stands still. The narration leaves the violence and its public aftershock together.
THE ROOT
לָשׁוּב
lashuv
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
Turn back, return.
“turn aside” in this verse is lashuv. The phrase carries the depth of לָשׁוּב (lashuv, to turn back or return): Asahel refuses to reverse his course. The same root appears in תְּשׁוּבָה (teshuvah, return) and מְשׁוּבָה (meshubah, turning away or backsliding), tying the pursuit to a turn he will not make.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return, turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This branch makes the direction of Asahel’s refusal visible: he keeps going instead of returning.
meshubah: Turning away, backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
The root can describe a change of direction; here Asahel does not turn away from the pursuit.
וַיַּעֲמֹדוּ
vaya'amodu
GROWS FROM
עמד
amad
Stand, remain, take one’s stand.
“stood still” in this verse is vaya'amodu. The Hebrew says that the people stood; the KJV’s “still” gives the pause its force. The root gathers the passersby into a shared stand at the place where Asahel fell.
ALSO GROWS
omed: Standing; one who stands.
עֹמֵד
It shares the verb’s basic image of a person held upright and present at the scene.
ma'amad: A standing place or position.
מַעֲמָד
This branch echoes how the death site becomes a place where those who arrive take their stand.
THE PATTERN
A violent death can arrest the movement of everyone who reaches its place.
And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still.And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.THE THREAD
And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me: wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?This is Abner’s warning immediately before the spear strike. He names the possibility of smiting Asahel to the ground, and the next verse shows that threat becoming the scene’s fatal outcome.
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