What Does Nehemiah 13:26 Mean?
Did not Solomon king of Israel miss the mark by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God set him as king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women caused even him to miss the mark.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.THE KEY
The Hebrew uses the same root for Solomon’s sin and for the women causing him to sin: even a king named for wholeness can be drawn into missing the way.
THE MEANING
You can be loved and entrusted with much and still be vulnerable to being pulled off course. The verse holds both the influence of those around you and your own missing in view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being loved by God or entrusted with responsibility does not make you incapable of serious misalignment.
THE ROOT
חָטָא
ḥāṭāʾ
GROWS FROM
חטא
ḥ-ṭ-ʾ
To miss or go wrong; to sin.
“miss the mark” in this verse is ḥāṭāʾ. The verse uses this one root first for Solomon’s own missing, then in a causative form for the women who lead him into it. Hebrew holds personal responsibility and outside influence in the same word-family.
ALSO GROWS
heḥĕṭîʾ: Cause someone to miss; lead into sin.
הֶחֱטִיא
This is the causative form behind “cause to sin,” tying the women’s influence directly to Solomon’s act.
ḥōṭēʾ: One who misses; one who sins.
חוֹטֵא
The same root can name the person who misses, keeping the act attached to the person rather than separating it from him.
שְׁלֹמֹה
Shelomoh
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
To be whole or complete; to bring to completion.
Solomon’s Hebrew name belongs to the שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness) family. The verse places that name beside a real missing, showing the wholeness at stake without suggesting that a name guarantees its expression.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being.
שָׁלוֹם
This is the familiar word-family carried in Solomon’s name, set in striking tension with his missing.
shalem: Whole, complete.
שָׁלֵם
The branch makes the contrast plain: the name evokes wholeness while the verse names a life pulled out of alignment.
אָהוּב
ʾāhûv
GROWS FROM
אהב
ʾ-h-v
To love or have affection for.
“Beloved” names Solomon as someone who is loved even as the verse names his failure. Love describes the relationship; it does not erase his vulnerability to influence or make his missing unreal.
ALSO GROWS
ʾahavah: Love.
אַהֲבָה
The noun makes the root of “beloved” visible: the verse speaks of a real bond of love.
ʾohev: One who loves.
אֹהֵב
This active form shares the same root, revealing the reciprocal field of loving and being loved.
THE PATTERN
The people close to you can redirect your heart’s allegiance, even when love and responsibility are real.
For they will turn your son aside from walking after me, so that he serves other gods. Then the burning of the LORD's anger will flare against you and wipe you out swiftly.It came to be, when Solomon was old, that his wives bent his heart after other gods, and his heart was not whole with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.Do not wander; bad company rots good habits.THE THREAD
If you do well, will you not be lifted up? And if you do not do well, falling short crouches at the door. Its reaching is toward you, and you shall rule over it.Genesis uses חַטָּאת (ḥaṭṭāʾt, sin or missing), from the same חטא family that names Solomon’s missing and the women’s causing him to miss. There, sin is pictured at the door; here, the same root shows how a person can be drawn into missing through the influence of those around him.
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