to have the upper hand: to hold real power over a person or a thing, or to hand that power to someone
This verb is about who has the upper hand. It is not the language of kingship or of a rightful office; Hebrew has other verbs for governing (מָשַׁל) and for reigning as king (מָלַךְ). This word asks a blunter question: whose hand is on the money, whose foot is on the neck, who came out on top when two sides went at each other.
Nearly every use with a human subject has an edge to it:
- an heir taking over everything a lifetime of work built
- officials and their staff leaning hard on people who cannot push back
- one side in a fight ending up on top of the other
Only when God is the one handing power out does the word turn warm.
Where the word appears matters too. All seven of its verses sit in the latest parts of the Hebrew Bible: Ecclesiastes, Esther, Nehemiah, and Psalm 119. It is a late word, at home in the Persian period, and the matching Aramaic verb (שְׁלֵט) runs all through the court stories of Daniel. That background is why it so often smells of an imperial official or an heir taking possession rather than a shepherd king caring for his people.
The word also runs in two directions. Usually someone takes or holds the power. But it can be turned around to describe putting something under someone else's power, and in Ecclesiastes that turn is a gift: God grants a person the power to actually enjoy what he owns, which the book treats as a rarer blessing than the wealth itself. Psalm 119 makes the same turn into a prayer in reverse, asking God not to let any wrongdoing get the upper hand over the one praying.