Bible Strands
1 Kings 4:8
and these were their names: Ben-hur in the hill country of Ephraim;
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator continues listing Solomon’s twelve appointed governors, documenting the official responsible for supplying the royal household during one month of the year. This occurs immediately after the text establishes the monthly provisioning system and before naming the next regional administrator.
The words — The phrase בְּהַר אֶפְרַיִם (be-Har Ephraim) literally means "in the hill country of Ephraim," specifying the highland district assigned to the governor Ben-hur. The personal name חוּר (Chur) stands alone without additional tribal or occupational descriptors in this administrative roster.
The thread — The designation "hill country of Ephraim" appears in Joshua 24:33 and Judges 17:1 to identify the same elevated tribal territory. Judges 19:1 also uses the phrase to locate a Levite’s residence within that highland region.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to observe how royal logistics were mapped onto existing tribal geography without erasing established boundaries. It asks for recognition of how centralized administration overlaid local land divisions to sustain the court.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And these are their names: The son of Hur, in mount Ephraim:
Cross-references
- Joshua 24:33 Eleazar son of Aaron also died, and they buried him at Gibeah, which had been given to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.
- Judges 17:1 Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim
- Judges 19:1 Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.