What is the meaning of 1 Kings 4:13? Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead • “Ben-geber” is literally “son of Geber,” one of the twelve district governors whom Solomon set “to provide food for the king and his household; each one was to supply provisions for one month of the year” (1 Kings 4:7). • Ramoth-gilead, a Levitical city of refuge east of the Jordan (Deuteronomy 4:43; Joshua 21:38), had strategic and spiritual importance. By assigning a trusted official there, Solomon safeguarded a border region that earlier witnessed conflict (1 Kings 22:3-4). • This appointment shows the king’s organized, God-honoring administration, fulfilling the covenant expectation of orderly rule in the land (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). The villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead belonged to him • Jair, a descendant of Manasseh through Hezron, had earlier “captured their tent villages and called them Havvoth-jair” (Numbers 32:41; 1 Chronicles 2:22). • Placing these villages under Ben-geber honors ancestral claims while folding them into the united monarchy, illustrating how Solomon knit tribal inheritances into a cohesive kingdom (Joshua 13:29-31). • The detail confirms God’s faithfulness: lands secured in Moses’ day still stand under Israelite control in Solomon’s era (Deuteronomy 3:14). The region of Argob in Bashan • Argob, a rugged basalt plateau in Bashan, had been part of Og’s Amorite kingdom defeated by Moses (Numbers 21:33-35). Moses described it as “all Bashan, the kingdom of Og … the region of Argob” (Deuteronomy 3:4, 13). • Including Argob under one governor displays the vast reach God granted Solomon—“he ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt” (1 Kings 4:21). • The area’s fertile grazing lands echo the prosperity promised for obedience (Deuteronomy 8:7-10). Sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars • Deuteronomy 3:5 notes that these Bashan strongholds were “fortified with high walls, gates, and bars,” underscoring their might. Solomon’s peaceful reign now controls them without siege or strife (1 Kings 4:25). • Bronze bars signify wealth and security; they illustrate how the Lord can “make your gates of bronze” (Isaiah 45:2) in fulfillment of covenant blessing. • The sheer number—sixty—highlights the administrative wisdom required to supply the royal table, pointing back to the verse’s larger context of monthly provision (1 Kings 4:7, 22-23). summary 1 Kings 4:13 records that Solomon placed the fortified eastern territories—Ramoth-gilead, Jair’s villages in Gilead, and Argob’s sixty walled cities—under Ben-geber. The verse testifies that every inch of land secured in Israel’s earlier history now lives under orderly, peaceful, and God-honoring governance, revealing the Lord’s faithfulness to His covenant promises and the wisdom He granted Solomon to administer them. |
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