What Does Joshua 13:22 Mean in the King James?
Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them.
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
Balaam is named by divination here, while his own oracle elsewhere declares that no divination stands against Israel.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to you now: it names Balaam first by his practice and then among those Israel kills with the sword. It keeps his diviner’s title beside the violence of his death, without making either disappear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that divining knowledge or spiritual status makes a person untouchable: Balaam is still counted among the slain.
THE ROOT
הַקּוֹסֵם
ha-qosem
GROWS FROM
קסם
To practice divination or seek an oracle.
“soothsayer” in this verse is ha-qosem. The Hebrew title marks Balaam through the practice of divination. The same word-family appears in the oracle where Balaam says no divination is against Israel, so his title stands beside his own words about divination’s limit.
ALSO GROWS
qesem: Divination; an oracle or divined message.
קֶסֶם
This is the related noun used in Balaam’s oracle in Numbers 23:23, linking his title here to his words there.
qosem: A diviner; one who practices divination.
קוֹסֵם
This form identifies Balaam by the practice itself, even as the verse places him among those killed by the sword.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents the sword as a force that kills within conflict and threatens those who take it up.
And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.THE THREAD
Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!The Hebrew word-family behind Balaam’s title appears in this oracle as “divination.” Read together, the verses hold a sharp tension: Balaam is identified as a diviner, yet his own words declare that no divination is against Israel.
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