And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.

1 SAMUEL 30:25KJV
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1 Samuel 30:25 (KJV)

What does 1 Samuel 30:25 mean?

1 Samuel 30:25 says that David made a lasting rule for Israel about sharing what soldiers recovered in battle. The rule grew out of a dispute over whether the men who stayed behind with the supplies should receive a share alongside the men who fought.

The verse follows David’s decision in verse 24 that both groups should share alike. “From that day forward” marks the decision as more than a settlement of that one dispute. “Unto this day” reaches from that moment to the time when the account was written.

The Hebrew behind 1 Samuel 30:25

  • “statute” — חֹק (ḥoq): A set rule or established requirement. The word presents David’s decision as something to be followed beyond the immediate occasion.
  • “ordinance” — מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat): A judgment or established rule. Here, the word adds the sense of a decision made about what was fair in a dispute.

Why 1 Samuel 30:25 matters

  • The rule includes those who guarded the supplies, not only those who entered the fight. Verse 24 puts the two groups side by side and gives them equal shares.
  • The account treats the matter as a rule for Israel, not merely an arrangement within David’s group. Verse 25 names Israel as the people for whom David established the rule.

Where else these words appear

“statute” Hebrew H2706 · used in 124 verses

  • Genesis 47:22 Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.
  • Deuteronomy 26:16 This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
  • Psalms 119:12 Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.

“forward” Hebrew H4605 · used in 134 verses

  • Genesis 6:16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
  • Numbers 4:30 From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old shalt thou number them, every one that entereth into the service, to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation.
  • 2 Chronicles 16:12 And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.