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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Kings 2:1-11

David, that great and good man, is here a dying man (1 Kgs. 2:1), and a dead man, 1 Kgs. 2:10. It is well there is another life after this, for death stains all the glory of this, and lays it in the dust. We have here, I. The charge and instructions which David, when he was dying, gave to Solomon, his son and declared successor. He feels himself declining, and is not backward to own it, nor afraid to hear or speak of dying: I go the way of all the earth, 1 Kgs. 2:2. Heb. I am walking in it.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 2:1

Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die ,.... The number of his days fixed and determined by the Lord, Job 14:5 ; and which might be perceived as drawing nigh, both by himself and others, through the growing infirmities of old age, decline of nature, and various symptoms of an approaching dissolution which were upon him; see Genesis 47:29 . Abarbinel observes, that he is called only David, not King David; because Solomon his son was now anointed king, and reigned in his stead;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 2:2

I go the way of all the earth ,.... A path which is the path of death F15 "------ omnes una manet nox, Et calcanda semel via lethi". Horat. Carmin. l. 1. ode 28. ver. 15, 16. , which all pass in, kings and peasants, high and low, rich and poor, great and small, good and bad; none are exempted, all must die, and do; it is the appointment of God, a decree which can never be reversed; all experience confirms it: this same phrase is used by Joshua, from whom David seems to have borrowed... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 2:3

And keep the charge of the Lord thy God ,.... Which may in general respect his whole walk and conversation, and his obedience to the law and will of God; and in particular his just government of Israel committed to his charge: to walk in his ways ; directed to in his word: to keep his statutes and his judgments ; his laws, ceremonial, moral, and judicial: and his testimonies ; as the above laws, which testify of his mind, and declare what he would have done and observed: as it... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Kings 2:2

I go the way of all the earth - I am dying. All the inhabitants of the earth must come to the dust. In life, some follow one occupation, some another; but all must, sooner or later, come to the grave. Death is no respecter of persons; he visits the palace of the king as well as the cottage of the peasant. Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas, Regumque turres read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Kings 2:3

Keep the charge of the Lord - Keep what God has given thee to keep. Walk in his ways. Not in thine own, nor in the ways of a wicked, perishing world. Keep his statutes. Consider all his appointments to be holy, just, and good; receive them as such, and conscientiously observe them. Keep his commandments. Whatever he has bidden thee to do, perform; what he has forbidden thee to do, omit. Keep his judgments. What he has determined to be right, is essentially and inherently... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Kings 2:1

EXPOSITION THE LAST WORDS AND DEATH OF DAVID .—The death of David, and of course the charge which preceded it, did not follow immediately (as the casual reader might be tempted to suppose) on the events related in 1 Kings 1:1-53 . We find from 1 Chronicles 23-29:23, that the aged king recovered sufficient strength to leave his sick room, to gather round him the princes of Israel ( 1 Chronicles 23:9 ), to make a number of fresh arrangements respecting the priests and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Kings 2:1-4

A royal father's last words. David's eventful life is drawing to a close. He has proved himself to be "a man after God's own heart." Not perfect man, for he had grievous defects. But, in the main, he recognized the grandeur of his position as "the Lord's anointed." He lived by the inspiration of a Divine purpose. He "served his own generation by the will of God" ( Acts 13:36 ). His very faults bore witness to the native force of his character. The height of the precipice measures the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Kings 2:1-11

A Jewish deathbed. A brilliant poet and essayist once summoned his stepson, the young Earl of Warwick, to his bedside, and with perfect dignity and composure bade him mark "how a Christian man can die." In this section, one far greater, and yet in one sense far less, than Addison,—greater as a poet, as a statesman, as a patriot; less, inasmuch as "he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he,"—beckons us to the chamber of death, and bids us witness the departure of a pious... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Kings 2:1-11

Eikon Basilike. The king, the close of whose chequered and romantic career is narrated in this section, was the pattern king of the Hebrew people, and is in many respects a model for all kings. The portrait drawn here and in the Psalms is a veritable Eikon Basilike, both truer and worthier of regard than that "Portraiture of his sacred Majesty," so famous and so influential in the history of our own country. We see him gathered to his fathers. Let us honestly frame his eulogium. I. ... read more

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