“‘Are all your sons here?’ Sh’mu’el asked Yishai. He replied, ‘There is still the youngest; he’s out there tending the sheep.’ Sh’mu’el said to Yishai, ‘Send and bring him back, because we won’t sit down to eat until he gets here.’”-1 Samuel 16:11
I wanna show you something interesting in the Scriptures that most Western gentiles would never in a million years catch unless pointed out to them.
So after God tells Samuel that Eliav (Jesse’s oldest and tallest son) is not a candidate to be the next king of Israel, Samuel continues to go down the list.
He asks if the next oldest son Avinadav is the one.
The answer is no.
He then asks if Shammah is the one.
Again, the answer is no.
Finally, after going through all seven sons who are present, Samuel asks “Are all your sons here?”.
Jesse tells him “There is still the youngest; he’s out there tending the sheep.”
So Samuel requests that David join everyone which seems to indicate that David is the eighth son.
However, take a look at these two verses from the Book of Chronicles:
“Bo’az fathered ‘Oved; ‘Oved fathered Yishai; and Yishai fathered Eli’av his firstborn, Avinadav second, Shim’a third, N’tan’el fourth, Radai fifth, Otzem sixth, David seventh, and their sisters Tz’ruyah and Avigayil. The sons of Tz’ruyah: Avshai, Yo’av and ‘Asah’el, three of them.”-1 Chronicles 2:12-16
So this passage from 1 Chronicles says that David is the seventh son.
However, later in the book of 1 Chronicles, we get the following:
“Over the tribes of Israel: leader of the Re’uveni: Eli’ezer the son of Zikhri; of the Shim’oni: Sh’fatyah the son of Ma’akhah; of Levi: Hashavyah the son of K’mu’el; of Aharon: Tzadok; of Y’hudah: Elihu, one of David’s brothers; of Yissakhar: ‘Omri the son of Mikha’el;”-1 Chronicles 27:16-18
So in this passage, for the first time, we’re told of a brother named Elihu who wasn’t mentioned before which again brings the total up to eight brothers.
So heck man, how many sons did Jesse have?
Seven or eight?
This is one of those areas Bible critics and skeptics love to reference to show how the Bible is a fallible document riddled with mistakes.
Some folks say there was a simple copyist error.
Others believe there were two different stories about David mixed into the Scriptural narratives.
I’m not gonna be dogmatic about this, but I believe the original Hebrew in 1st Samuel 16:11 gives us a simple and reliable answer.
The bottom line is that when Samuel asks “Are all your sons here?”, that’s not very accurate.
It’s not a bad translation, but it doesn’t quite capture what the Hebrew says.
The original Hebrew is HATAMMU HANNE ARIM or הַתַּמּוּ הַנְּעָרִים.
This means “Are the sons complete“?
Now you may be thinking, so what?!
Translating it to say “Are these all of your sons?” still accurately conveys the essence of what’s being said in the Hebrew.
Well, hold on to your horses homie.
See, in ancient Hebrew culture, there has always been a commonly understood and accepted connection between Hebrew numbers, letters, and symbolic meanings.
Seven is the divine number of completeness.
We see this expressed many times throughout Scripture.
Job had 7 sons, Ruth was said to be “better than 7 sons”, and so on.
But here’s the thing.
In Hebrew, the number 7 is used to express completeness even if the numerical or mathematical value of what was being referred to wasn’t necessarily seven discrete or individual entities.
Are you feeling me here homie?
So when Samuel asks if the number of Jesse’s sons is “complete”, who cares whether it was seven or eight sons mathematically speaking…because according to the Hebrew mindset, the number 7 and the word “complete” are synonymous.
In Scripture, they have the same meaning.
So it is NOT a contradiction if Samuel asks Jesse if the number of his sons is “complete” in one part of Scripture and then in a later part of Scripture were told there were 7 sons.
Got it?
This also reminds me in ancient times, people did NOT read the Bible…especially the “Old” Testament.
The Bible stories were handed down orally.
In other words, the original Hebrew Scripture was designed to be SPOKEN and not silently read.
This way, it was easier for people to remember the stories and pass them on to the next generation.
On top of that, there’s spiritual significance to the ideal number of 7 being applied to Jesse’s family here.
We’re being told that a God thing is happening here.
And that “God thing” was that the future king of Israel was being chosen from this family!
Again, if you’re a Western pastor, preacher, or teacher, this is probably going right over your head, but I betcha folks from the Middle East would easily catch this symbolism.
See ya all next time.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“To the seven Messianic communities
in the province of Asia:
Grace and shalom to you
from the One who is,
who was and who is coming;
from the sevenfold Spirit
before his throne;”
-Revelation 1:4
“Next, I saw in the right hand
of the One sitting on the throne
a scroll with writing on both sides
and sealed with seven seals;”
-Revelation 5:1
“Then I saw the seven angels
who stand before God,
and they were given seven shofars.”
-Revelation 8:2
P.S. I ended yesterday’s post with a quiz question. As promised, here’s the answer to it.
QUESTION:
If you were to translate the word “heart” so that it reflects the proper meaning for modern readers, what would it be?
ANSWER:
In the Bible, “heart” really means “mind”. So when God says He views the “heart” of man, He is referring to our rational and logical thinking processes, NOT our emotions or feelings. During the Biblical era, feelings were thought to reside in the kidneys or liver, depending on what kind of feelings they were.
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