What Does 1 Kings 4:10 Mean?

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

1 Kings 4:10 · SDV

Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.

Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

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

THE KEY

Beneath “Hesed” is the Hebrew word for faithful love, set beside an appointment defined by actual land.

THE MEANING

Responsibility here has a geography: a named steward’s charge includes Sochoh and all the land of Hepher. The name Hesed carries the meaning of faithful love, placing that quality beside a concrete, bounded assignment.

THE ROOT

חֶסֶד

ḥesed

GROWS FROM

ח־ס־ד

Faithful love, loyal kindness

Hesed is not only a person’s name; it is the Hebrew word for faithful, loyal love. In this verse, that meaning sits beside a charge tied to particular places, though the verse does not say how the steward governs them.

ALSO GROWS

ḥāsad: To act loyally or show kindness

חָסַד

This verbal form presents faithful love as something enacted, not only named.

ḥāsîd: Faithful, devoted; a loyal one

חָסִיד

This form applies the root’s quality to a person, echoing how Hesed appears here as a personal name.

THE PATTERN

Responsibility becomes concrete when it is attached to a defined charge.

And Solomon had twelve of those set standing over all Israel, who fed the king and his house; each man, in his month of the year, made it ready.

1 Kings 4:7 · SDVThe officers’ responsibility is made concrete through a defined duty and schedule of provision.

And they shall keep his watch, and the watch of the whole assembly before the tent of the assembly, to do the work of the dwelling.

Numbers 3:7 · SDVThe verse names a specific charge and the people and place it serves.

The one who is steady in the least is steady also in much, and the one who is crooked in the least is crooked also in much.

Luke 16:10 · SDVFaithfulness is shown through the handling of a particular responsibility, whether small or great.

THE THREAD

And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, turn back each to her mother's house. May the LORD do faithful love with you, as you have done with the dead and with me.

Ruth 1:8 · SDV

The Hebrew behind “deal kindly” is ḥesed, the same word carried in the name Hesed. Ruth makes the name’s root audible as an action: faithful love shown through loyal care.

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