What Does 2 Samuel 4:5 Mean in the King James?
And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ish-bosheth, who lay on a bed at noon.
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 uses the same root for “lay” and “bed,” making Ish-bosheth’s unguarded rest the center of the scene.
THE MEANING
Even now, the scene holds two movements together: Ish-bosheth, whose name means “man of shame,” lies at rest while other men approach. He is shown neither choosing nor causing anything; the verse keeps his exposed stillness and their arrival in the same frame.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that familiar surroundings and an ordinary hour guarantee safety: visitors can arrive while someone is unguarded.
THE ROOT
שֹׁכֵב
shokhev
GROWS FROM
שכב
To lie down, recline, or stretch out.
The Hebrew places שֹׁכֵב (shokhev, lying) beside מִשְׁכַּב (mishkav, a bed or lying place), both from שכב (shakhav, to lie down). English renders this as “lay on a bed,” while the shared root joins his posture to the place where he rests.
ALSO GROWS
mishkav: A bed or place of lying down.
מִשְׁכָּב
The bed is named from the same root as “lay,” tying Ish-bosheth’s posture to the place holding him.
shekhivah: Lying down; the act or posture of reclining.
שְׁכִיבָה
This branch keeps the focus on the bodily state the verse places at the moment of arrival.
THE PATTERN
A still or resting person becomes the point where an arrival enters the scene.
And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,THE THREAD
I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.The Hebrew verb שכב (shakhav, lie down) joins this verse’s “lay” to Psalm 4’s “lay me down.” Psalm 4 places that same posture within safety, while this scene shows it alongside an approaching arrival.
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