What Does Exodus 18:27 Mean in the King James?
And Moses let his father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land.
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
Moses’ verb for letting his father-in-law depart is shalach, sending him onward, with release already inside the act of care.
THE MEANING
A bond can remain real when the shared moment ends; what passes between people can travel with them after they part. You have a way and a ground of your own, and another person’s departure does not erase what was shared.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that care must keep another person near; release can carry care forward as each person returns to their own way.
THE ROOT
וַיְשַׁלַּח
vayeshallach
GROWS FROM
שלח
send, send forth, release
The English “let ... depart” can sound like merely allowing someone to leave; shalach makes Moses’ action an active sending forth. Its branches also carry the images of provision extended and waters sent onward: release is a movement that gives another a path.
ALSO GROWS
Shiloach: sent forth; the sent waters
שִׁלֹחַ
Like the waters sent onward, the departure here is a release that carries movement beyond the one who sends.
Shulchan: table; provision extended
שֻׁלְחָן
This branch holds the extending aspect of shalach: sending forth can also make provision accessible to another.
מֹשֶׁה
Moshe
GROWS FROM
משה
draw out, especially from water
Moses’ name carries the image of one drawn out. Beside shalach, the name creates an echo: the one named as drawn out now sends another onward.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: to draw out
מָשָׁה
Exodus 2:10 uses this word to explain Moses’ name, keeping “drawn out” inside the name’s meaning.
Moshe: the one drawn out
מֹשֶׁה
The name’s nature echoes in this verse as Moses becomes the one who sends another forth.
THE PATTERN
Care can culminate in sending someone onward, carrying what has been shared into their own way.
And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant, and his men.Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.THE THREAD
And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.“To bring them on the way” translates the same shalach root that appears here as “let ... depart.” Abraham’s hospitality carries the visitors to the point of sending them onward; the same verb lets care include release.
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