to knit together, bind
Qashar is the Hebrew verb for to bind, to tie, to knit together. It is used for the literal binding of a cord, the tying of a knot, the harnessing of an animal. It is also used for the binding of one human soul to another. The most famous use is in 1 Samuel 18:1, where the soul of Jonathan was 'knit' (qashar) to the soul of David. The Hebrew is striking. Their souls were tied. Bound together in a way that the rest of the narrative will keep returning to. Qashar also describes the binding of God's words to your heart and forehead in Deuteronomy 6, the practice that eventually becomes the tefillin. It describes the conspiratorial binding of treason in 2 Kings, where the word can mean to plot or to conspire (a negative kind of being-bound-together). The Hebrew Bible's image of human connection is not casual proximity. It is being tied to each other, in a way that takes deliberate untying to dissolve. Qashar resists the modern image of relationships as easily entered and easily exited.
Most of us treat our closest relationships as light commitments we can pause if life gets hard. Qashar pushes back. The Hebrew Bible's image of friendship and family is binding. Tying. Knotting. Not because the relationship is a prison, but because it has weight. I spent years keeping people at a distance because I was afraid of the binding. The cost felt too high. Qashar said the binding is the point. Real intimacy is what happens when two souls are tied, and that means you cannot get untangled without pain. Jonathan and David are the model the Bible gives us. Their souls were qashar'd. The story of David grieving Jonathan's death is the cost of the binding, and it is presented as a glory, not a regret.
Qashar (קשר) is from a root q-sh-r that means to tie, bind, conspire. Related to keshen (knot), kesher (bond, connection, also signal or telecommunications in modern Hebrew). The same root that describes the literal tying of a cord describes the binding of human souls and the binding of God's commands to the body.
Where qashar appears in Scripture, and why each verse showcases it.
As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
The headline use. Qashar of souls. The Bible's clearest picture of deep human friendship.
You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
Qashar of God's words to the body. The Shema commands tying scripture to your physical life.
And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand.
Qashar in its physical sense. The midwife ties a thread to mark the firstborn.
Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck.
Qashar of wisdom to the heart. The father urges his son to bind the teaching the way you bind a cord.
Words in the same semantic family.
Every video where Adam teaches on this word, in publication order.
