What Does Numbers 26:3 Mean in the King James?

And Moses and Eleazar the priest spake with them in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying,

Numbers 26:3 · 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

Before a single word is given, the speakers’ names already say: drawn out, and God has helped.

THE MEANING

The word reaches you through Moses, whose name recalls being drawn out, and Eleazar, whose name says God has helped. You are met in the plain beside the Jordan, where a word is spoken at the edge of a crossing still ahead.

THE ROOT

מֹשֶׁה

Mosheh

GROWS FROM

מ־ש־ה

m-sh-h

To draw out.

Moses’ name is tied to being drawn out of water. The voice speaking here bears that remembered shape of deliverance, as the people stand beside the Jordan.

ALSO GROWS

māshāh: To draw out.

מָשָׁה

This is the verb behind the explanation of Moses’ name in Exodus 2:10.

meshîtihû: I drew him out.

מְשִׁיתִהוּ

This form in Exodus 2:10 makes the name a remembrance of being drawn out.

אֶלְעָזָר

Elʿazar

GROWS FROM

ע־ז־ר

ʿ-z-r

To help or aid; the name combines El, God, with azar, helped.

Eleazar’s name carries the testimony “God has helped.” Beside Moses, the names hold a pair of meanings: drawn out and helped by God.

ALSO GROWS

ʿēzer: Help or support.

עֵזֶר

This noun makes the help within Eleazar’s name tangible.

ʿāzar: To help or aid.

עָזַר

This verb is the root action carried in the name Eleazar.

דִּבֶּר

dibber

GROWS FROM

ד־ב־ר

d-b-r

To speak; to utter a word.

“spake” in this verse is dibber. The related noun davar can mean both “word” and “matter” or “thing.” Hebrew holds speech and what is spoken together, so this is not detached information: a word enters the people’s shared moment.

ALSO GROWS

dāvar: A word, matter, or thing.

דָּבָר

This branch shows how the spoken word can also name the matter being addressed.

medabber: Speaking; one who speaks.

מְדַבֵּר

This participle keeps the act of speaking active in the scene.

THE PATTERN

A name in Scripture can carry the act of deliverance or help that a life embodies.

And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

Exodus 2:10 · KJVMoses’ name is explicitly tied to being drawn out, the meaning carried by one of the speakers in Numbers.

Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.

1 Samuel 7:12 · KJVEbenezer names the help the people have received, echoing the testimony held in Eleazar’s name.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21 · KJVJesus’ name is joined to the deliverance he brings, another name that carries its bearer’s work.

THE THREAD

And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

Exodus 2:10 · KJV

This verse ties Moses’ name to being drawn out of the water. Beside Eleazar, “God has helped,” that name places two testimonies of deliverance and help among the voices speaking to you.

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