What Does Judges 3:31 Mean in the King James?
And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.
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 verse calls Shamgar’s killing of six hundred Philistines Israel’s deliverance: yasha carries the movement of being brought out, and here that movement comes through blunt violence.
THE MEANING
Deliverance takes a bloodied form here: Shamgar strikes and kills six hundred Philistines with an ox goad, and Israel is delivered. The verse leaves the ordinary tool and the dead men in full view as it names the outcome. Its word for deliverance carries movement out of constriction and toward spaciousness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that deliverance is always gentle: here the verse names a killing as deliverance.
THE ROOT
וַיּוֹשַׁע
wayyōšaʿ
GROWS FROM
ישע
y-š-ʿ
To deliver, bring out of danger, and move from constriction toward spaciousness.
“delivered” in this verse is wayyōšaʿ. The root carries movement: being brought out from danger into room. Here the verse refuses to separate that deliverance from the killing of six hundred Philistines.
ALSO GROWS
yeshuah: Deliverance
יְשׁוּעָה
It names the outcome of the movement carried by the verb in this verse.
moshia: Deliverer
מוֹשִׁיעַ
It names the one who brings another out, as Shamgar does for Israel here.
מַלְמַד
malmad
GROWS FROM
למד
l-m-d
To learn or teach.
“ox goad” in this verse is malmad. The goad’s name belongs to the word family of learning and teaching; as a tool, it directs an animal through pressure. That shared root places guidance and force in one word-family, while this verse shows the force in lethal use.
ALSO GROWS
lamad: Learn
לָמַד
The learning verb shares the root behind the goad’s name.
limmed: Teach
לִמֵּד
The teaching verb makes the goad’s association with directing more visible.
וַיַּךְ
wayyak
GROWS FROM
נכה
n-k-h
To strike or hit.
The Hebrew verb keeps the blow audible, while “slew” gives its fatal result. Its word family includes a blow or affliction, binding the deaths in this verse to the language of striking.
ALSO GROWS
makkah: Blow, strike, or plague
מַכָּה
It shows how the root of “slew” also names the blow or affliction itself.
mukkeh: One who is struck
מֻכֶּה
It makes the recipient of the blow explicit in the same word family.
THE PATTERN
Scripture names deliverance while leaving the threat or violence around it visible.
Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.THE THREAD
Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.Exodus uses the same Hebrew form of ישע (yasha) for Israel’s deliverance that Judges uses for Shamgar’s. The shared verb sits beside the Egyptians’ bodies on the shore, keeping deliverance tied to the violence in its scene.
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