What Does 2 Samuel 2:5 Mean in the King James?
And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said unto them, Blessed be ye of the LORD, that ye have shewed this kindness unto your lord, even unto Saul, and have buried 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
What David calls “kindness” is faithful love made visible at the grave, where Saul can no longer return it.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to a place where care cannot be repaid: Saul is beyond answering, yet his burial remains an act of faithful love. David names that act and speaks the LORD’s blessing over those who carry it out.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that love ends with a relationship or a life: Saul’s burial is still named faithful love after his death.
THE ROOT
חֶסֶד
ḥesed
GROWS FROM
חסד
Faithful love expressed through loyal action.
English “kindness” can sound like a passing courtesy; חֶסֶד (ḥesed, faithful love) names loyalty made concrete. Here, that loyalty extends through the act of burying Saul, after his ability to answer is gone.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāsad: To act loyally or show kindness.
חָסַד
The verb form makes relational care an action, like the burial David recognizes.
ḥāsîḏ: A faithful or loyal person.
חָסִיד
The same root can name both an act of faithful love and a person marked by that loyalty.
בְּרֻכִים
berukhim
GROWS FROM
ברך
To bless; this word-family also names the knee, giving blessing a bodily echo of bowing and honor.
“Blessed” in this verse is berukhim. The root ברך (b-r-k, bless) also appears in בֶּרֶךְ (berekh, knee), giving blessing a bodily echo of bowing and honor. David’s words place honor on those whose care for Saul takes the form of burial.
ALSO GROWS
bāraḵ: To bless.
בָּרַךְ
This verb is the root action in David’s spoken blessing.
berekh: Knee.
בֶּרֶךְ
The shared word-family adds a bodily image of bowing and honor to the blessing.
דָּוִד
Dāwīd
GROWS FROM
דוד
Beloved; the nature of one who is loved.
The name carries the meaning beloved. Here, David recognizes another people’s faithful love and sends them a blessing; the beloved speaker gives voice to honor for the care shown to Saul.
ALSO GROWS
dōd: Beloved one; loved one.
דּוֹד
This word carries the beloved sense associated with David’s name.
dōdîm: Loves; expressions of affection.
דּוֹדִים
The plural form gives the word-family a sense of love expressed and shared.
THE PATTERN
Faithful love becomes visible in concrete care and remains present after death.
And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.THE THREAD
And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.Naomi’s “deal kindly” is חֶסֶד (ḥesed, faithful love), the same word David uses for the deed done to Saul. In both verses, this faithful love is visible in care tied to the dead, reaching beyond what English “kindness” usually suggests.
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