וְהָאִ֥ישׁ יָרׇבְעָ֖ם גִּבּ֣וֹר חָ֑יִל וַיַּ֨רְא שְׁלֹמֹ֜ה אֶת־הַנַּ֗עַר כִּֽי־עֹשֵׂ֤ה מְלָאכָה֙ ה֔וּא וַיַּפְקֵ֣ד אֹת֔וֹ לְכׇל־סֵ֖בֶל בֵּ֥ית יוֹסֵֽף׃
This man Jeroboam was very capable, and when Solomon saw that the young man was a productive worker, he appointed him over all the forced labor of the House of Joseph.
(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the Hebrew term אִישׁ, by employing a situation-oriented construal as outlined in this introduction, pp. 11–16.)
The clause in question is וְהָאִ֥ישׁ יָרָבְעָ֖ם גִּבּ֣וֹר חָ֑יִל. In it, the label הָאִישׁ regards Jeroboam in terms of the situation established in the vignette’s opening verse (v. 26), while also keeping attention on that situation as being of paramount interest—despite the present digression. This noun phrase meanwhile creates an opening, in the audience’s mental representation of the discourse, for supplying germane background information about him (a matter of character).
Meanwhile, the syntax of this clause marks a shift in topic—what the discourse analyst Stephen Levinsohn calls a “switch in attention.” The intervening verse (v. 27) described the initial conditions (King Solomon’s building projects) prior to Jeroboam’s involvement; now the narrator puts the spotlight on him, so as to explain how he became prominently involved.
In short, here the noun phrase הָאִישׁ is akin to labeling Jeroboam as “the aforementioned [insurrectionist].”
On the function of the construction “הָאִישׁ + name” more generally, see my comment at Exod 11:3; see also my comments at Judg 17:5 and at 1 Sam 1:21.
As for rendering into English, the NJPS “This Jeroboam was an able man” managed to avoid the mechanical, awkward “The man Jeroboam...” of the OJPS and RSV translations. However, it strayed farther than necessary from the meaning of the original: it casts the clause as predicating Jeroboam’s competence as being an essential quality for grasping the depicted situation, whereas the original text pointed instead to Jeroboam’s involvement in the (insurrection) situation as being definitive.
The revised rendering, “This man Jeroboam was very capable,” comes closer to the Hebrew, although it necessitates an adjustment later in the verse—rendering עֹשֵׂה מְלָאכָה as “a productive worker” rather than “a capable worker” (which would sound redundant).