What Does 2 Samuel 2:25 Mean in the King James?
And the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together after Abner, and became one troop, and stood on the top of an hill.
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 word translated “troop” means a bound bundle: the Benjaminites become one by being held together under Abner.
THE MEANING
People gathered behind one leader can become a single force, sharing a place to stand and a common direction. This unity has a hard edge: a people can become one for conflict as readily as for peace.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Unity is not automatically peaceable; people can become one in order to stand for conflict.
THE ROOT
אֲגֻדָּה
ʾaguddāh
GROWS FROM
אגד
ʾ-g-d
to bind or tie together
“one troop” in this verse is ʾaguddāh. English “troop” names the military unit, while the Hebrew word also carries the image of a band or bundle held together. The Benjaminites are described not merely as many followers but as one bound company behind Abner, standing together on one hill.
ALSO GROWS
ʾaguddāh: a band, bundle, or company
אֲגֻדָּה
This is the word used for the troop here; Exodus 12:22 uses it for a bunch of hyssop, a bundle gathered as one.
ʾaguddōt: bands or bonds
אֲגֻדּוֹת
Isaiah 58:6 uses this plural for bands of a yoke; the same binding can hold a group together or keep someone under a burden.
THE PATTERN
A people becomes a shared force when many are gathered into one body.
So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.THE THREAD
And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.“Bunch” is אֲגֻדַּת (ʾaguddat, a bundle), the same word-family as אֲגֻדָּה (ʾaguddāh, a band or troop) in this verse. In Exodus, separate stems are held together as one bundle; here, people gather into one company behind Abner.
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