What Does 2 Samuel 23:21 Mean in the King James?
And he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear.
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 spear changes hands, but not its purpose: the weapon taken from the Egyptian becomes the weapon that kills him.
THE MEANING
The violence continues through the transfer of the spear: it is seized from the Egyptian and used to slay him. The act of disarming him is part of the killing, not its end.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Taking away a weapon does not, by itself, mean the violence has ended; here the weapon’s transfer is part of the killing.
THE ROOT
וַיִּגְזֹל
vayyigzol
GROWS FROM
גזל
to seize, rob, or take by force
The verb translated “plucked” comes from גזל, a root of forceful taking. Its wording makes the spear’s transfer an act of seizure, carrying the violence forward into the moment the weapon is used.
ALSO GROWS
gazel: robbery or spoil
גָּזֵל
This noun from the same root names what has been taken, showing how the spear’s new possession is bound to the force of its seizure.
gezelah: robbery; property taken by force
גְּזֵלָה
This branch makes the force in the verb explicit: the spear is not simply passed along but taken in a violent act.
THE PATTERN
Force can turn back through the instrument prepared or wielded against another.
Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.THE THREAD
And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away.The phrase “violently taken away” uses the same root, גזל, as “plucked” in this verse. The shared word reveals a forceful seizure in both scenes; here, the seized object becomes the weapon that kills its former holder.
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