What Does Numbers 26:31 Mean in the King James?
And of Asriel, the family of the Asrielites: and of Shechem, the family of the Shechemites:
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
Shechem means “shoulder,” so the family name preserves a bodily image of carrying across generations.
THE MEANING
This verse holds you inside a lineage: a name can become the name of a whole family. Shechem means “shoulder,” and that image stays attached as the name passes from one bearer to many. Belonging here has a shape that can be carried.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a name is only an individual label that ends with its bearer.
THE ROOT
שְׁכֶם
Shekhem
GROWS FROM
ש־כ־ם
š-k-m
Shoulder; the related verb also means to rise early.
Shechem is the Hebrew word for “shoulder” used as a name. The related verb for rising early is commonly connected with shouldering oneself up, extending the image from carrying to rising.
ALSO GROWS
shekhem: Shoulder
שְׁכֶם
Genesis 49:15 uses this same word for the shoulder bowed under a load, making the concrete image carried by the name visible.
shakam: Rise early
שָׁכַם
This related verb is traditionally linked to the shoulder root and adds the image of rising; the family name in this verse carries the noun’s shoulder sense.
THE PATTERN
A name can outlast its bearer by becoming the name of a people or a shared belonging.
And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir:There was also a lot for the rest of the children of Manasseh by their families; for the children of Abiezer, and for the children of Helek, and for the children of Asriel, and for the children of Shechem, and for the children of Hepher, and for the children of Shemida: these were the male children of Manasseh the son of Joseph by their families.Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.THE THREAD
And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.Shechem’s name and “shoulder” here are the same Hebrew word, שְׁכֶם. The thread connects the name of a family in Numbers with a shoulder bowed under a load, leaving the image of carrying inside the name.
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