1 Kings 4:13
in 1 Kings 4Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead (the villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead belonged to him, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan with its sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; even to him pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brazen bars);
KJV
The son of Geber, in Ramoth–gilead; to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; to him also pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brasen bars:
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This verse in 1 Kings 4
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThe son of Geber in Ramothgilead,.... A city in the tribe of Gad, and was a city of refuge, Jos 20:8; to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; of which see Num 32:41; to him also pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls, and brasen bars; called by Josephus (s) Ragaba, beyond Jordan; See Gill on Deu 3:4. (s) Antiqu. l. 13. c. 15. sect. 5.
This site's exposition
twelve officers over all Israel
on 1 Kings 4:7-19
Twelve officers divide the kingdom's provisioning by month rather than by the tribes' old boundaries, and the districts named mix tribal territory with cities and regions redrawn under the crown. Verse 19 closes the list with a line the bench reads two ways: some take it to mean Geber alone administered all of Gilead where two kings once ruled, others that Judah, the king's own tribe, received no separate officer and no month's charge, exempted rather than omitted by oversight. Either reading rests on the same silence, since the text names no twelfth district lying in Judah though it names every other tribe.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
The officials elected by Solomon designate the order of the chosen ones whom Christ affirmed in his grace and appointed as rulers of his people. Indeed, twelve prefects were selected to administer the incomes of this king and his house, because just as many apostles …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Such a kingdom, and such a court, surely never any prince had, as Solomon's are here described to be. Never did the crown of Israel shine so brightly as it did when Solomon wore it, never in his father's days, never in the days of any of his successors; nor was that kingdom ever so glorious a type of the kingdom of the Messiah as it was then.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Threescore great cities with walls and brazen bars - These were fortified cities: their gates and bars covered with plates of brass. Such were the gates in Priam’s palace: - Ipse inter primos correpta dura bipenni Limina perrumpit, Postes que a cardine vellit Aeratos. Virg. Aen., lib. ii. ver. 479. Fierce Pyrrhus in the front, with forceful sway, Plied the huge axe, and hew’d the beams away; The solid timbers from the portal tore, And rent from every hinge the Brazen door. Pitt.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
It will be observed that five out of the twelve prefects are designated solely by their father’s names, Ben-Hur, etc., while one (Ahimaaz, 1Ki 4:15) has no such designation. Probably the document, which the author of the Book of Kings consulted, had contained originally the proper name and father’s name of each prefect; but it was mutilated or illegible in places at the time when he consulted it. If it was in the shape of a list, a single mutilation at one corner might have removed four of the six wanting names.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
The Argov region. He [Gever’s son] was appointed over them to collect the king’s tax, because the rules pertaining to the monarchy allow for his expenditures to be collected from the people, as it is stated in the rules pertaining to the monarchy, in the book of Shmuel.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
22 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בֶּן־ | ben- | Ben- | H1127 → | |
| גֶּ֖בֶר | gever | Geber | H1127 → | |
| בְּרָמֹ֣ת | beramot | in Ramoth | H7418 → | 22 times |
| גִּלְעָ֑ד | gilad | Gilead | H1568 → | 134 times |
| ל֡וֹ | lo | [belonged] to <the> him | ||
| חַוֹּת֩ | chavot | [the] villages of | H2333 → | |
| יָאִ֨יר | yair | Jair | H2971 → | |
| בֶּן־ | ben- | [the] son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| מְנַשֶּׁ֜ה | menasheh | Manasseh | H4519 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| בַּגִּלְעָ֗ד | bagilad | [are] in <the> Gilead | H1568 → | 134 times |
| ל֚וֹ | lo | [belonged] to <the> him | ||
| חֶ֤בֶל | chevel | [the] region of | H2256 → | 62 times |
| אַרְגֹּב֙ | ʾargo | Argob | H709 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| בַּבָּשָׁ֔ן | babashan | [is] in <the> Bashan | H1316 → | |
| שִׁשִּׁים֙ | shishim | sixty | H8346 → | 59 times |
| עָרִ֣ים | ʾarim | cities | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| גְּדֹל֔וֹת | gedolot | large | H1419 → | 526 times |
| חוֹמָ֖ה | chomah | a wall | H2346 → | 133 times |
| וּבְרִ֥יחַ | uveriach | and bar[s] of | H1280 → | |
| נְחֹֽשֶׁת׃ ס | nechoshet | bronze | H5178 → | 140 times |
בֶּן־Ben-
ben-H1127 →
גֶּ֖בֶרGeber
geverH1127 →
בְּרָמֹ֣תin Ramoth
beramotH7418 →22 times
גִּלְעָ֑דGilead
giladH1568 →134 times
ל֡וֹ[belonged] to <the> him
lo
חַוֹּת֩[the] villages of
chavotH2333 →
יָאִ֨ירJair
yairH2971 →
בֶּן־[the] son of
ben-H1121 →4930 times
מְנַשֶּׁ֜הManasseh
menashehH4519 →
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
בַּגִּלְעָ֗ד[are] in <the> Gilead
bagiladH1568 →134 times
ל֚וֹ[belonged] to <the> him
lo
חֶ֤בֶל[the] region of
chevelH2256 →62 times
אַרְגֹּב֙Argob
ʾargoH709 →
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
בַּבָּשָׁ֔ן[is] in <the> Bashan
babashanH1316 →
שִׁשִּׁים֙sixty
shishimH8346 →59 times
עָרִ֣יםcities
ʾarimH5892 →1090 times
גְּדֹל֔וֹתlarge
gedolotH1419 →526 times
חוֹמָ֖הa wall
chomahH2346 →133 times
וּבְרִ֥יחַand bar[s] of
uveriachH1280 →
נְחֹֽשֶׁת׃ סbronze
nechoshetH5178 →140 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Joshua 20:8And beyond the Jordan, east of Jericho, they designated Bezer on the wilderness plateau from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe…
it leads to
- Joshua 21:38
And from the tribe of Gad they were given Ramoth in Gilead, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Mahanaim,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Joshua 21:36
From the tribe of Reuben they were given Bezer, Jahaz,
- 1 Chronicles 6:78
From the tribe of Reuben east of the Jordan opposite Jericho they were given Bezer in the wilderness, Jahzah,
- Joshua 21:27
This is what the Levite clans of the Gershonites were given: From the half-tribe of Manasseh they were given Golan in Bashan, a city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beeshterah—two cities, together with…
- Joshua 21:38
Through
Numbers 32:41Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, went and captured their villages and called them Havvoth-jair.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 3:14
Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He renamed Bashan after himself, Havvoth-jair, by which it is called to this…
- Judges 10:4
He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys. And they had thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth-jair.
- Joshua 13:30
The territory from Mahanaim through all Bashan—all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, including all the towns of Jair that are in Bashan, sixty cities;
- Deuteronomy 3:14
Through
1 Kings 22:3who said to his servants, “Do you not know that Ramoth-gilead is ours, but we have failed to take it from the hand of the king of Aram?”
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 4:43
Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, or Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.
- Deuteronomy 4:43
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About 1 Kings
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PersonLate monarchyManassehJudah's longest-reigning and worst king, who filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; the book names his apostasy as the cause of 586…
- PlaceEast of the Sea of Galilee, north of GileadBashanThe fertile tableland east of the Sea of Galilee, the kingdom of Og and the giant clans, taken by Israel before the Jordan crossin…
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS 4:1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.