What Does Numbers 27:5 Mean in the King James?
And Moses brought their cause before the LORD.
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
Moses does not merely forward the women’s claim; he brings it near to the LORD, placing their cause before divine judgment.
THE MEANING
An unresolved claim is not sealed at the human level; it can be brought before the LORD. The matter remains real and named, held where judgment and right can be given.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an unresolved claim is already abandoned: the cause can still be carried into the LORD’s presence.
THE ROOT
וַיַּקְרֵב
vayyakrev
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
Draw near, approach; cause to come near.
This verb says Moses makes their case approach the LORD. The same root gives both what is near and the qorban, the drawing near; “brought before” also carries a sense of bringing close.
ALSO GROWS
qārōḇ: Near, close.
קָרוֹב
The case is brought into nearness to the LORD, not left at a distance.
qorbān: That which is brought near; a drawing near.
קָרְבָּן
The root makes the act of bringing their case before God a movement of approach.
מִשְׁפָּטָם
mishpāṭām
GROWS FROM
שפט
sh-p-ṭ
Judge, decide, render judgment.
“their cause” in this verse is mishpāṭām. Mishpat can name both a judgment and the matter or right being judged. Their “cause” is not only a complaint; it is a claim seeking a just decision.
ALSO GROWS
shōfēṭ: Judge, one who decides a case.
שֹׁפֵט
The women’s claim is carried to the one who can judge it.
shefāṭim: Judgments, decisions.
שְׁפָטִים
The word family connects their cause with the judgment it awaits.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
משׁה
m-sh-h
Draw out, especially from water.
“Moses” in this verse is Mosheh. Mosheh is linked in Exodus 2:10 to mashah, “draw out of water.” The one named “drawn out” now brings the women’s case forward, an echo of the name’s meaning in his action.
ALSO GROWS
māshāh: Draw out.
מָשָׁה
This is the verb linked to Moses’s name and its sense of being drawn out.
meshithihu: I drew him out.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
Exodus 2:10 uses this form in explaining the name Mosheh.
THE PATTERN
Unsettled claims can move beyond the limits of human handling into the reach of righteous judgment.
Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble.Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:THE THREAD
Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.The same Hebrew word, מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, judgment or case), names the women’s cause and the judgment it awaits. Numbers shows their claim brought before the LORD; Deuteronomy opens the connection further by declaring that judgment belongs to God and the hard case can still be heard.
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