1 Kings 4:19

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 ; 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. Psalms 135:11 ; Psalms 136:19 , Psalms 136:20 ]; 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 Psalms 136:13 , Psalms 136:14 . 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, Psalms 136:13 , Psalms 136:14 ), as Schulze. אֶחָד is used as an ordinal number, but it is only in connexion with days and years (Gesen. s.v.) Some, following the LXX . ( εἷς ἐν γῇ ̓ιούδα ) would detach Judah from Psalms 136:20 , 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 ( Psalms 136:10 ) 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 Psalms 136:7 , suppose with Ewald, al. that a thirteenth officer is here intended.

HOMILETICS