1 Kings 4:19

Geber the son of Uri was in the country of Gilead, in the country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer which was in the land.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) The twelfth division was on the east of Jordan, south of the seventh, including the pastoral country of Reuben and part of Gad on the borders of Moab, probably occupied by the royal flocks and herds.

In place of the reading of the text, “and he was the only officer in the land”—which yields very little meaning, for in each of the divisions there was but one governor—the LXX. here reads, “and Naseph (or an officer), one only in the land of Judah.” The reading seems probable; for it will be noticed that in the enumeration the territory of Judah is otherwise altogether omitted. It supplies accordingly here the mention of a special governor, over and above the twelve, for the royal tribe. It has been thought that as Judah was the home province, it was under no other government than that of the king’s officers at Jerusalem; but for purposes of revenue it seems hardly likely that it should have been excepted from the general system. Possibly Azariah, who was over the officers residing at the Court, may have been its territorial governor.

In some MSS. of the Greek Version, 1Kings 4:27-28 immediately follow 1Kings 4:19, and (as 1Kings 4:20-21 are omitted) they form a link between 1Kings 4:7-19 and 1Kings 4:22-23, in a very natural order.

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 4:19. In the country of Gilead — That is, in the remaining part of that land of Gilead which was mentioned above. The only officer in the land — Or rather, in that land; namely, in all Gilead, excepting the parcels mentioned before, the only one in all the territories of Sihon and Og. These were of large extent, and yet all committed to this one man, which is here noticed as a peculiar privilege which he had above the other officers, whose jurisdictions were of narrower extent.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-19 In the choice of the great officers of Solomon's court, no doubt, his wisdom appeared. Several are the same that were in his father's time. A plan was settled by which no part of the country was exhausted to supply his court, though each sent its portion.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The meaning of the last clause is somewhat doubtful. On the whole, our King James Version may well stand as nearly correct. The writer has assigned to Geber a wide stretch of territory; and, anticipating surprise, assures his readers " (there was but) one officer who (purveyed) in this land."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. The son of Hur—or, as the Margin has it, Benhur, Bendekar. In the rural parts of Syria, and among the Arabs, it is still common to designate persons not by their own names, but as the sons of their fathers.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In the country of Gilead, i.e. in the remaining part of that land of Gilead, which was mentioned above, 1 Kings 4:13.

In the land, or rather, in that land; for the Hebrew points intimate that the emphatical article is there understood, to wit, in all Gilead, excepting the parcels mentioned before, in all the territories of Sihon and Og; which because they were of large extent, and yet all committed to this one man, it is here noted concerning him as his privilege above the rest, whose jurisdictions were of a narrower extent.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Geber the son of Uri was in the country of Gilead,.... Which was beyond Jordan, and inhabited by the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh; this must be understood of all the country, excepting what was under the jurisdiction of the son of Geber, 1 Kings 4:13; and which had been

the country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan; until it was taken from them by Moses, Numbers 21:25;

and he was the only officer which was in the land; which is not true of Geber; for there was another officer in the land of Gilead besides him, the son of Geber before observed, unless it should be rendered "in that land", in that part of the land he had; but then the same might have been observed of all the rest of the officers: the words may be rendered best, "and there was one officer in the land"; which some understand of one officer over all the rest, Azariah the son of Nathan, 1 Kings 4:5; but it seems best what other Jewish writers say (u), that this was another officer appointed for the intercalated month; when there were thirteen months in the year, there was an officer in the land fixed for that month to make provision out of the land; perhaps any where, where he pleased, being not limited to any certain place. These twelve providers for Solomon's family were emblems of the twelve apostles of Christ, appointed to provide food for his family, the church; and if you add to them the Apostle Paul, it will make thirteen, as this officer did.

(u) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 12. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

Geber the son of Uri was in the country of Gilead, in the country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer which was in the land.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. in the country of Gilead] Geber had the oversight of that part of Gilead which lay south of the district assigned to Ben-Geber (1 Kings 4:13). This comprised all the kingdom of Sihon and part of the kingdom of Og (Deut. chh. 2. 3), and was a very extensive province, but on account of its rugged character was probably thinly populated. The extent of it may account for the notice which follows that Geber was the only officer, though the country was so large.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - Geber the son of Uri was in the country of Gilead [i.e., he presided over the parts not already assigned to Bengeber (perhaps his son) and Ahinadab. Gilead is often used (see Deuteronomy 34:1; Judges 20:1) to designate all the country east of the Jordan. And so apparently here, for] the country of Sihon king of, the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan] embraced the whole trans-Jordanic region, Deuteronomy 3:8; Numbers 21:24-35: cf. Psalm 135:11; Psalm 136:19, 20]; and he was the only officer which was in the land. [This cannot mean "the only officer in Gilead," notwithstanding the great extent of territory - the usual interpretation - for that would contradict vers. 13, 14. Nor can can it mean the only officer in his district, or portion, of Gilead, for that is self-evident, and the remark would apply equally to all the other prefects. And we are hardly justified in translating נְצִיב אֶחָד "he was the first (i.e., superior), officer" (set over those mentioned above, vers. 13, 14), as Schulze. סך אֶחָד used as an ordinal number, but it is only in connexion with days and years (Gesen. s.v.) Some, following the LXX. (εῖς ἐν γῇ Ἰούδα) would detach Judah from ver. 20, where it must be allowed it occurs with a suspicious abruptness, and where the absence of the copula, so usual in the Hebrew, suggests a corruption of the text, and would connect it with this verse, which would then yield the sense, "and he was," (or "there was") "one officer which purveyed in the land of Judah." it is to be observed, however, that though no mention has as yet been made of Judah in any of the districts, yet the prefecture of Ben Hesed (ver. 10) appears to have extended over this tribe, and the remark consequently seems superfluous. (Can it be the object of the writer to show that the royal tribe was not favoured or exempted from contributing its share?) On the whole, the difficulty would seem still to await a solution. We can hardly, in the teeth of ver. 7, suppose with Ewald, al. that a thirteenth officer is here intended.

CHAPTER 4:20-34. SOLOMON'S RULE, STATE, AND WISDOM. - The remainder of this chapter, which de-scribes to us the extent and character of Solomon's sway (vv. 20, 21, 24, 25), the pomp and provision of his household (vv. 22, 23, 26-28), and his profound and varied wisdom (vv. 29-34), has every appearance of a compilation from different sources. It scarcely has the order and coherence which we should find in the narrative of a single writer. 1 Kings 4:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, i.e., as the apposition "the land of Sihon ... and of Og..." clearly shows, the whole of the Israelitish land on the east of the Jordan, as in Deuteronomy 34:1; Judges 20:1, etc., with the simple exception of the districts placed under Bengeber and Ahinadab (1 Kings 4:13 and 1 Kings 4:14). אחד נציב, "one president was it who (was) in the land (of Gilead)." נציב cannot signify a military post or a garrison here, as in 1 Samuel 10:5; 1 Samuel 13:3, etc., but is equivalent to נצּב, the president (1 Kings 4:7). The meaning is, that notwithstanding the great extent of this district, it had only one prefect.