What Does Judges 9:54 Mean in the King James?
Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.
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
He can choose who delivers the final wound, but not who struck the blow that made his last command necessary.
THE MEANING
Concern over what others will say reaches even into the final moments: Abimelech chooses who delivers the last wound so the story will not name a woman as his killer. Yet the earlier blow remains part of the scene, beyond his command. The verse holds reputation, bodily injury, and death together without making them the same story.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that controlling the final act can erase the injury that made it necessary.
THE ROOT
וַיִּדְקְרֵהוּ
wayyidqerēhû
GROWS FROM
דקר
to pierce or stab through
“thrust through” in this verse is wayyidqerēhû. This is a specific piercing verb, also used in Saul’s request to his armor-bearer and in “whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10). Here, the precise act answers Abimelech’s command, but does not reach back and undo the blow that came before it.
ALSO GROWS
wĕdāqĕrēnî: thrust me through; 1 Samuel 31:4
וְדָקְרֵנִי
Saul uses the same root when he asks his armor-bearer to kill him, linking the two scenes of a ruler directing his final wound.
dāqārû: they pierced; Zechariah 12:10
דָּקָרוּ
The same root names a piercing that remains visible and remembered.
מֹתְתֵנִי
moteteni wayyamat
GROWS FROM
מות
to die or be dead; in the causative form, to cause someone to die
“slay / died” in this verse is moteteni wayyamat. The command “slay me” uses a causative form, cause me to die, and the verse closes with the same root in “he died.” Hebrew binds his chosen means to the outcome, while the piercing root shows that choosing the final act does not erase the wound that precedes it.
ALSO GROWS
māvet: death
מָוֶת
The noun names the outcome already governing Abimelech’s last command.
mēt: dead
מֵת
This form describes the state reached when the root’s action is complete.
THE PATTERN
What a person tries to hide or manage about an ending remains subject to witness and disclosure.
Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.THE THREAD
Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.Saul’s request to be “thrust” through uses the same Hebrew root, דקר (d-q-r; daqar), as the armor-bearer’s action here. Both scenes place a ruler and his armor-bearer at death’s edge, but Saul’s bearer refuses while Abimelech’s obeys.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us