What Does 2 Samuel 3:23 Mean in the King James?
When Joab and all the host that was with him were come, they told Joab, saying, Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he hath sent him away, and he is gone in peace.
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
Peace can be present at a departure and still become vulnerable when its report reaches someone else.
THE MEANING
The verse holds release and reception together: Abner departs in peace, and Joab now hears that news. Peace is real at the moment of departure, yet the report places its continuation in the hands of the person receiving it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A peaceful departure does not guarantee that everyone who hears of it will honor the peace.
THE ROOT
וַיְשַׁלְּחֵהוּ
wayishallechehu
GROWS FROM
שלח
sh-l-ḥ
Send, send forth, release, let go.
“sent him away” in this verse is wayishallechehu. The Hebrew verb wayishallechehu grows from shalach: to send forth, release, let go. Shiloach carries the same “sent” shape in its name, while shulchan is a table, an extending of provision; the root holds release as outward movement.
ALSO GROWS
Shiloach: Sent waters; the name associated with the Pool of Siloam.
שִׁלֹחַ
The same root’s outward movement can carry waters that restore sight, showing that sending can open a way toward restoration.
shulchan: Table; an extending of provision.
שֻׁלְחָן
The table extends provision outward, revealing a form of sending that makes room for what sustains life.
בְּשָׁלוֹם
b'shalom
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
Be complete, whole, intact.
The phrase b’shalom means “in peace,” and shalom grows from sh-l-m: being complete, whole, intact. The verse does not fuse these roots; it places release beside wholeness, naming the condition in which Abner departs.
ALSO GROWS
shalem: Whole, complete.
שָׁלֵם
This branch makes the wholeness within shalom visible: Abner’s departure is described as more than simply leaving.
shillem: Repay, make restitution.
שִׁלֵּם
The same root can name making good what is owed, linking wholeness with what has been restored.
THE PATTERN
Release sends life outward from constriction toward healing and wholeness.
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.THE THREAD
He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.The same Hebrew root, shalach, appears in both passages: the king sends Abner away, and God sends a word. Psalm 107 makes the force of that sending explicit, healing and deliverance follow, so the root opens release as a movement that carries restoration outward.
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