What Does 2 Samuel 20:24 Mean in the King James?
And Adoram was over the tribute: and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder:
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 official who keeps the kingdom’s memory is named “YHWH has judged,” placing record and judgment side by side.
THE MEANING
What is gathered and what is remembered shape the world you inhabit. This verse places tribute beside recordkeeping, and the recorder’s name, Jehoshaphat, means “YHWH has judged,” joining public memory to the language of judgment.
THE ROOT
מַזְכִּיר
mazkir
GROWS FROM
זכר
z-k-r
Remember, recall, or mention.
The title mazkir comes from zakar, “to remember” or “mention,” and names someone whose work is to keep memory in view. English makes “recorder” sound like a neutral job title; the Hebrew keeps its connection to remembering and making something remembered.
ALSO GROWS
zakar: To remember, recall, or mention.
זָכַר
This verb is the seed of the recorder’s title: the office turns remembering into an assigned public function.
zikkaron: A remembrance or memorial.
זִכָּרוֹן
This branch shows memory taking durable form, illuminating the recorder’s role in preserving what a community is to remember.
יְהוֹשָׁפָט
Yehoshafat
GROWS FROM
שפט
sh-p-t
Judge, decide, or govern; the name means “YHWH has judged.”
“Jehoshaphat” in this verse is Yehoshafat. The recorder’s name carries the meaning “YHWH has judged,” from shaphat, “to judge or govern.” Memory and judgment stand together in this roster: one title preserves what is done, while the name evokes the measure by which it is weighed.
ALSO GROWS
shofet: A judge, one who decides or governs.
שֹׁפֵט
This related word makes the judging sense inside Jehoshaphat’s name more visible.
mishpat: A judgment, decision, or just ordering.
מִשְׁפָּט
This branch connects the name’s root to the decisions and ordering carried out in public life.
THE PATTERN
A community’s life is shaped by the people assigned to gather its resources, preserve its memory, and administer its shared work.
Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder.For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.THE THREAD
Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder.This verse names the same Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, as recorder, using the Hebrew title mazkir from zakar, “to remember.” It places that office alongside scribes, making public memory part of the structure of governance.
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