What Does Numbers 10:26 Mean in the King James?

And over the host of the tribe of the children of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ocran.

Numbers 10:26 · KJV

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

Asher’s name carries the language of flourishing into the tribe’s place among the people.

THE MEANING

You are named within a people, not dissolved into a number: this verse identifies the tribe, its leader, and his father. Asher’s name carries the language of happiness and flourishing into that shared identity.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Belonging to a people makes you anonymous: this verse preserves the tribe, its leader, and his father’s name.

THE ROOT

אָשֵׁר

Asher

GROWS FROM

אשר

To be happy or fortunate; the root also gives language for calling someone blessed.

Asher is more than a tribal label: the name is tied to happiness and fortunate well-being. The same root appears in Scripture’s language for a flourishing life, so this roster line carries a word of flourishing inside the name of a people.

ALSO GROWS

osher: Happiness; fortunate well-being.

אֹשֶׁר

In Genesis 30:13, Leah’s words about her happiness lead directly to naming her son Asher.

ashrei: Flourishing; happy.

אַשְׁרֵי

This form opens the same root into Scripture’s descriptions of the flourishing person, as in Psalm 1:1.

THE PATTERN

The name carried by Asher opens into Scripture’s recurring language for a flourishing life.

And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.

Genesis 30:13 · KJVLeah’s happiness and the daughters’ blessing language give the name Asher its meaning.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

Psalm 1:1 · KJVThe same Hebrew root names the flourishing person, extending the meaning carried by Asher beyond a personal name.

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:3 · KJVThe language of flourishing appears again in Jesus’ teaching, here joining those emptied in breath to the governance of the heavens.

THE THREAD

And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.

Genesis 30:13 · KJV

Numbers names the tribe Asher, while Genesis shows Leah giving that same name after speaking of happiness and being called blessed. The roster carries that meaning forward in the name of an entire people.

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