1 Kings 4:10

The son of Hesed, in Aruboth; to him pertained Sochoh, and all the land of Hepher:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) The third division was also in the land of the Philistines, being part of the territory assigned to Judah. Sochoh is mentioned in Joshua 15:35, and is noticed in 1Samuel 17:1-3 as close to the field of battle on which David slew Goliath. Hepher is an old Amorite city which was conquered by Joshua (Joshua 12:17), still, by a curious survival, giving its name to the whole district, to which the name Aruboth (otherwise unknown) is here also given.

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

Sochoh - See Joshua 15:35.

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

There were two Sochohs, but both near together. See Joshua 15:35,48.

The land of Hepher, in Judah. See 1 Chronicles 4:6.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The son of Hesed in Aruboth,.... Which seems to have been in the tribe of Judah by the places that follow:

to him pertained Sochoh; there were two places of this name in that tribe, Joshua 15:35;

and all the land of Hepher: there was an Hepher in the land of Canaan, which was a royal city in the times of the Canaanites, Joshua 12:17; and there was an Hepher, the name of a man, a descendant of Judah, to whom, very probably, this land belonged, 1 Chronicles 4:6; unless it can be thought to be the portion of land given to the daughters of Hepher, Joshua 17:3.

Geneva Study Bible

The son of Hesed, in Aruboth; to him pertained Sochoh, and all the land of Hepher:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. the son of Hesed] Read Ben-Hesed. Of Hesed we have no further notice.

in Aruboth] The Hebrew points require us to spell the word Arubboth. Judging from the names which follow, Arubboth was a town or district in the low country lying between the mountainous portion of Judah and the Mediterranean. There was Sochoh (more correctly Socoh) a place noticed Joshua 15:35, and also as being near the encampment of the Philistines in Goliath’s time (1 Samuel 17:1). A king of Hepher is mentioned Joshua 12:17, to whom probably this land of Hepher pertained. The other names in the list in Joshua are of towns in this district to which we know Socoh belonged.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - The son of Hesed [Ben. Hosed], in Aruboth (Heb. Arubboth, unknown]; to him pertained Sochoh [there were two cities of this name, one in the mountain (Joshua 15:48), and one in the "valley" (the Shefelah, Joshua 15:33, 35), and both in the tribe of Judah, from which, therefore, this third district was taken], and all the land of Hepher. [Joshua 12:17. Ewald holds that this place was in Manasseh, and that "it is impossible in the twelve districts to find any portion of... Judah." But see above.] 1 Kings 4:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Benhesed was in Arubboth, which does not occur again, so that its situation, even if it should be identical with Arab in Joshua 15:52, as Bttcher conjectures, can only be approximatively inferred from the localities which follow. To him (לו), i.e., to his district, belonged Sochoh and all the land of Hepher. From Sochoh we may see that Benhesed's district was in the tribe of Judah. Of the two Sochohs in Judah, that still exist under the name of Shuweikeh, it is impossible to determine with certainty which is intended here, whether the one upon the mountains (Joshua 15:48) or the one in the plain (Joshua 15:35). The fact that it is associated with the land of Hepher rather favours the latter. The land of Hepher, which must not be confounded with the city of Gath-hepher in the tribe of Zebulun (Joshua 19:13; 2 Kings 14:25), but was the territory of one of the Canaanitish kings who were defeated by Joshua, was probably situated in the plain (see at Joshua 12:17).