What Does 2 Samuel 23:24 Mean in the King James?

Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Beth-lehem,

2 Samuel 23:24 · KJV

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 roster counts Elhanan among the thirty, then restores his particularity by naming his father and home: belonging survives enumeration.

THE MEANING

Elhanan is held in a web of kinship and place: he is Dodo’s son and comes from Bethlehem, even as he is one among the thirty. The verse keeps his connections beside his place in the group, so the count does not erase the person.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Being one among many makes a person interchangeable.

THE ROOT

אֶלְחָנָן

ʾElḥānān

GROWS FROM

חנן

To show favor or act graciously.

Elhanan joins El (⁨אֵל⁩, ʾēl, God) with ḥanan (⁨חנן⁩, ḥānan, to show favor), so the name can be heard as “God has shown favor.” The verse places that name among a brother, a father, and a hometown: this person is remembered through relationship as well as rank.

ALSO GROWS

ḥēn: Favor.

חֵן

This noun from the same root gives a shorter form of the favor carried in Elhanan’s name.

ḥannûn: Gracious or one who shows favor.

חַנּוּן

This branch makes the root’s action into a quality, echoing the favor expressed in Elhanan’s name.

דּוֹדוֹ

Dōdō

GROWS FROM

דוד

Beloved or close male kinsman.

Dodo is associated with the root ⁨דוד⁩, which can carry the sense of a beloved person or close male relative. Even the father’s name therefore echoes the kinship that the verse explicitly gives Elhanan: he is remembered as someone’s son.

ALSO GROWS

dōd: Beloved or close male kinsman.

דּוֹד

This root word holds affection and kinship together beneath Dodo’s name.

dōdî: My beloved.

דּוֹדִי

This possessive form appears in the Song of Solomon and shows the same root in a direct expression of intimate attachment.

THE PATTERN

Scripture preserves identity through the ties a name carries: family, naming, and place.

And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin.

Genesis 35:18 · KJVA child’s name is held within a family’s relationship to him, and the naming preserves that bond.

And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Ruth 4:17 · KJVObed’s name is carried forward through his relationship to Naomi, Jesse, and David.

And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

Matthew 1:16 · KJVThe genealogy keeps a person’s name connected to family and to the larger line in which that person is remembered.

THE THREAD

His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

Song of Solomon 5:16 · KJV

Dodo echoes ⁨דוד⁩ (dōd, beloved or close male kinsman), the same root heard in ⁨דּוֹדִי⁩ (dōdî, my beloved) in this verse. The family name in the roster carries a word-shape that also expresses affection and closeness.

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