What Does Judges 19:16 Mean in the King James?
And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even, which was also of mount Ephraim; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites.
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
Sojourning names a person who is present in a place without being absorbed into its belonging.
THE MEANING
You can dwell in a place without becoming part of the identity of its local people. The verse holds both facts together: the man lives in Gibeah, yet he is from Ephraim, while the men of the place are Benjamites.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that living among a group automatically makes you one of its locals.
THE ROOT
גָּר
gār
GROWS FROM
גור
To dwell among people as a sojourner or outsider.
“sojourned” in this verse is gār. The verb גָּר (gār, he sojourns) comes from גור (gur, to sojourn), the root behind גֵּר (gēr, stranger or sojourner). The word allows someone to live within a place while still being named as an outsider, preserving the distinction between the Ephraimite resident and Gibeah’s Benjamite men.
ALSO GROWS
gēr: Stranger, resident outsider
גֵּר
This noun makes explicit the status carried by the man who sojourns among people who are not his own.
megurekha: Your sojournings, your places of residence
מְגוּרֶיךָ
This form shows that the root can name the experience of dwelling somewhere, while leaving open whether that place is truly home.
THE PATTERN
A person may reside within a community while remaining a stranger to its identity.
I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;THE THREAD
I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.Genesis uses גֵּר (gēr, stranger or sojourner), from גור (gur, to sojourn), the same root as גָּר (gār, he sojourns) in Judges. Together, the verses show how someone can be physically among a community while still living there as an outsider.
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