What Does Numbers 17:4 Mean in the King James?
And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you.
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 word translated “meet” carries the sense of an appointed encounter, placing this meeting before testimony rather than leaving it abstract.
THE MEANING
The encounter is appointed, and it takes place with testimony held in view. Your meeting with God has a point of contact; it is not only an indistinct feeling.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that meeting God is an unlocated feeling: the verse places the encounter in a specific setting, before the testimony.
THE ROOT
אִוָּעֵד
’ivva’ed
GROWS FROM
י־ע־ד
To appoint, designate, or set a time or place.
“meet” in this verse is ’ivva’ed. The verb carries the sense of an encounter set in place. The nearby phrase אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד (ohel mo’ed, “tent of meeting”) belongs to the same word family: even the place is named for an appointed encounter.
ALSO GROWS
mo’ed: An appointed time, meeting, or assembly.
מוֹעֵד
The phrase “tent of meeting” uses this word, making the encounter part of the place’s name.
wənoʿadtî: “And I will meet,” by appointment.
וְנוֹעַדְתִּי
The same word family appears in Exodus 25:22, where God says, “there I will meet with thee.”
THE PATTERN
An encounter with God becomes concrete where testimony is held in view and presence is made known.
And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee.And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.THE THREAD
And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.The same Hebrew root for an appointed meeting appears in both verses. Numbers places the encounter before the testimony; Exodus shows it above the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony.
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