What Does Judges 8:31 Mean in the King James?
And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.
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 son’s name says “my father is king” in the same household where his father says the LORD shall rule.
THE MEANING
The name Abimelech carries a claim: “my father is king.” You hear it beside Gideon’s declaration that the LORD shall rule, and both words remain in the family story. A spoken refusal does not erase the claim carried by the name.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This verse unsettles the belief that refusing power makes a claim to rule disappear from a family.
THE ROOT
אֲבִימֶלֶךְ
ʾAvimelekh
GROWS FROM
מלך
M-L-K
To reign or be king.
“Abimelech, the name” in this verse is ʾAvimelekh. The name joins אָבִי (ʾavi, “my father”) with מֶלֶךְ (melekh, “king”). English preserves the name’s sound but hides its claim: kingship is already spoken into this family’s name, even as Gideon says the LORD shall rule.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King
מֶלֶךְ
This is the “king” carried in Abimelech’s name.
malakh: To reign
מָלַךְ
The name’s claim becomes action when rule is sought.
mamlakhah: Kingdom, realm
מַמְלָכָה
This branch shows how the root extends from a king to the realm under his rule.
THE PATTERN
A name can compress a claim about the nature or role a person will carry into view.
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.THE THREAD
Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.“Abimelech” contains מֶלֶךְ (melekh, “king”), and both instances of “reign” here come from the same מלך root. The claim carried in the name becomes the public question of who will rule.
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