What Does 2 Samuel 5:25 Mean in the King James?
And David did so, as the LORD had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer.
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
Here the verse makes obedience visible as a blow: the LORD commands, David strikes, and the violence stays in the sentence.
THE MEANING
The verse puts you in front of an unsettling pairing: David acts as the LORD commands, and his action is a strike against the Philistines. The route has a real boundary, from Geba to Gazer, and the text leaves the violence in its plain wording. David’s name carries the sense of “beloved,” yet the line does not soften what the beloved does.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that calling an act obedience makes its violence disappear; it names both the command and the striking.
THE ROOT
וַיַּךְ
wayyak
GROWS FROM
נכה
n-k-h
To strike, beat, or inflict a blow.
“smote” in this verse is wayyak. The Hebrew word carries the force of a physical strike; it does not hide the violence inside a vague word for victory. Related words can name both a blow and a plague, keeping the wound and its impact in view.
ALSO GROWS
makkah: A blow, wound, or plague.
מַכָּה
This branch keeps the consequence of the striking visible in the same word family.
mukkeh: A person who has been struck or afflicted.
מֻכֶּה
It turns attention from the striker to the one who receives the blow.
צִוָּהוּ
tsivvahu
GROWS FROM
צוה
ts-w-h
To command, charge, or direct.
“commanded” in this verse is tsivvahu. The same root forms the Hebrew word for a commandment or instruction. Here, the command is not abstract: the verse places it directly before David’s action, making the strike the deed through which he carries it out.
ALSO GROWS
mitzvah: A command or instruction.
מִצְוָה
This branch shows that the root also names what is commanded, linking direction with the instruction that gives it form.
tzav: A direct order or charge.
צַו
It echoes the force of the command in this verse: a direction given to be acted upon.
דָּוִד
David
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved; the root can also refer to a close kinsman.
David’s name carries the nature of “beloved.” In this verse, that name stands beside a command and a physical strike, without turning the beloved into a sentimental or gentle figure.
ALSO GROWS
dod: A beloved person or close male relative.
דּוֹד
This related word carries the affectionate sense present in David’s name.
dodim: Expressions of love or affection.
דּוֹדִים
This branch makes the root’s intimate, beloved sense explicit beside the verse’s stark account of violence.
THE PATTERN
Obedience is narrated as doing what a command says, with the action itself kept in view.
Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.Thus did Moses: according to all that the LORD commanded him, so did he.But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.THE THREAD
Thus did Moses: according to all that the LORD commanded him, so did he.The verb translated “commanded” comes from the same Hebrew root, צוה (ts-w-h, to command or charge), as in 2 Samuel 5:25. Exodus uses that root for Moses’ work on the tabernacle; Samuel uses it before a military strike, linking obedience to enacted work while leaving the acts themselves distinct.
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