Was in charge of the palace is literally “over the house.” Parallels to this office in other ancient Near Eastern documents suggest that Ahishar was in charge of the royal household and that his duties may have included supervision of other palace officials and control of communication and access to the palace. The translation “prime minister” (Contemporary English Version) seems too political. The translation “In charge of the palace servants” (Good News Translation) seems too restricted. Perhaps a better translation is “in charge of the palace property” (similarly De Vries), that is, he made decisions regarding the palace buildings and property.

As noted above on verse 4, New Jerusalem Bible and De Vries, who follow an important manuscript of the Septuagint, regard the words “Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the army” as a later addition to the Masoretic Text and place parentheses around all of verse 4. Again following the Septuagint, New Jerusalem Bible inserts the following here in the middle of verse 6: “Eliab son of Joab, commander of the army” (similarly De Vries). Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, however, gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text and recommends that it be followed here.

Adoniram is mentioned also in 1 Kgs 5.14. In 2 Sam 20.24 the person “in charge of the forced labor” under King David is called Adoram, and the person holding this office during the reign of Solomon’s son Rehoboam is also called Adoram (1 Kgs 12.18). But the ancient Greek and Syriac translations of these two verses have the name “Adoniram.” Although some interpreters think it is not probable that the same person held this office for some forty years, it is likely that “Adoram” is simply a variant of the name Adoniram. So it is permissible to use the same name here as in 1 Kgs 12.18 and 2 Sam 20.24.

In charge of the forced labor is literally “over the levy” (Jewish Publication Version) or “over the forced labor,” which uses the same Hebrew preposition as in the expression above for “over the house.” The practice of using forced labor existed also in neighboring countries at that time. The people were forced to build buildings and fortified walls around cities and to do other construction projects (see 1 Kgs 9.15). The function of Adoniram may be expressed in some languages as “captain of those who worked against their will” or “chief of those who compelled other people to work.” Some translations use the technical term “corvée” in this context (De Vries, Gray). A “corvée” is unpaid labor that a subject provides to the person who rules over him.

Often such labor forces were taken from other conquered nations. It is not clear whether Solomon’s forced labor gangs includes Israelites, as 1 Kgs 5.13 seems to suggest, or only non-Israelites living within his kingdom, as 1 Kgs 9.15-22 suggests.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .