Bible Strands
1 Kings 4:9
Ben-deker in Makaz, in Shaalbim, in Beth-shemesh, and in Elon-beth-hanan;
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator lists Solomon’s appointed officials and their territorial jurisdictions during the early administrative reorganization of the united monarchy.
The words — The text names בֶּן־דֶּקֶר (Ben-deker), literally “son of Deker,” and assigns him four specific districts: Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan.
The thread — Shaalbim and Beth-shemesh reappear in Joshua 19:42, Joshua 21:16, and Judges 1:35 as lands originally distributed to Joseph’s tribes and later occupied by Amorite populations.
Why it lands — The passage records concrete geographic assignments to demonstrate how Solomon’s kingdom operationalized earlier tribal boundaries, requiring the reader to track how historical administration fulfills prior land allocations.
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
The son of Dekar, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beth–shemesh, and Elon–beth–hanan:
Cross-references
- Joshua 19:42 Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah,
- Joshua 21:16 Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh—nine cities from these two tribes, together with their pasturelands.
- Judges 1:35 And the Amorites were determined to dwell in Mount Heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim. But when the house of Joseph grew in strength, they pressed the Amorites into forced labor.
- 1 Samuel 6:12 And the cows headed straight up the road toward Beth-shemesh, staying on that one highway and lowing as they went, never straying to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed behind them to the border of Beth-shemesh.
- 1 Samuel 6:20 The men of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? To whom should the ark go up from here?”