What Does 2 Samuel 20:21 Mean in the King James?
The matter is not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.
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 Hebrew behind “deliver him only” says “give him alone”: the city’s escape is negotiated by isolating one body for the king’s force.
THE MEANING
One man’s revolt is answered by an offer to give him alone to Joab, so the rest of the city can escape the siege. The promised proof is concrete: his head will be thrown over the wall. The verse places the city’s release and public decapitation inside a single bargain.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a peaceable agreement is therefore harmless dissolves here: this bargain names a man’s severed head as its price.
THE ROOT
תְּנוּ
tenu
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
give, set, place
The verb says “give him alone,” holding the handover inside the word translated “deliver.” In the verse’s sequence, the transfer ends with Sheba’s head thrown over the wall: the city’s release depends on placing one man into Joab’s reach.
ALSO GROWS
natan: give, set, place
נָתַן
This is the root’s basic action; here, giving someone over takes the specific form of surrendering him to Joab.
mattanah: gift, present
מַתָּנָה
The same root names what is given; its neutral sense of transfer can hold both a gift and this brutal handover.
נָשָׂא
nasa
GROWS FROM
נשׂא
n-s-ʾ
lift, carry, bear
Sheba “lifts” his hand against David, and the same root can name a leader as one lifted up. The revolt’s gesture therefore echoes a contest over who is raised to rule.
ALSO GROWS
nasi: leader, prince
נָשִׂיא
A nasi is associated with being lifted up; this branch brings the raised hand’s challenge into the language of authority.
massa: burden, load
מַשָּׂא
A massa is something borne; the root connects lifting with carrying, the physical range behind Sheba’s raised hand.
THE PATTERN
A threatened community can secure its release by concentrating the violence of power on one person.
Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver thee up.Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.THE THREAD
Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver thee up.David’s question uses the root נתן (n-t-n), “give,” the same root as tenu here. David fears being given into Saul’s hand; this woman offers one man to Joab so the city’s siege will end.
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