1 Kings 1:1-3:15

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Kings 1:1-4

David, as recorded in the foregoing chapter, had, by the great mercy of God, escaped the sword of the destroying angel. But our deliverances from or through diseases and dangers are but reprieves; if the candle be not blown out, it will burn out of itself. We have David here sinking under the infirmities of old age, and brought by them to the gates of the grave. He that cometh up out of the pit shall fall into the snare; and, one way or other, we must needs die. 1. It would have troubled one... read more

John Gill

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

Now King David was old, and stricken in years ,.... Was seventy years of age; for he was thirty years of age when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years, 2 Samuel 5:4 ; this was just the age of man, Psalm 90:10 ; and they covered him with clothes ; not wearing apparel, but bed clothes; he seems to have been bedridden and paralytic: but he got no heat ; by them; having no natural heat in him, clothes could not communicate any to him, only keep the cold from him, see ... read more

Adam Clarke

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

Now King David was old - He was probably now about sixty-nine years of age. He was thirty years old when he began to reign, reigned forty, and died in the seventieth year of his age, 2 Samuel 5:4 , and 1 Kings 2:11 ; and the transactions mentioned here are supposed to have taken place about a year before his death. But he gat no heat - Sixty-nine was not an advanced age; but David had been exhausted with various fatigues, and especially by family afflictions, so that... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Kings 1:1

Now [Hebrews and , but "now" more nearly expresses the import of the original, for ו has here little or no connecting force. It is commonly found at the beginning of a book (as in Exodus, Leviticus, Joshua, Judges, 2 Samuel, Ruth, etc.), and that where there is no connection whatever with any earlier writing (as in Esther, Ezekiel, Jonah, etc.) It can hardly imply, therefore, "that the historian regards his work as a continuation of a preceding history" (Rawlinson), nor is there any... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Kings 1:1

The chamber of sickness. This opening chapter of 1 Kings introduces us into the privacy of a sick room. Stretched upon a couch, covered with many folds of rich Eastern drapery, we see a feeble, decrepit, attenuated man. At his side stands a fair young girl, assiduously ministering to his wants. From time to time the door opens, and prophet, priest, and warrior enter to receive his instructions; for happily the mind is not a wreck like the body. Its vigour is hardly abated, though the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Kings 1:1-53

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Kings 1:1

Now - Rather, “and.” The conjunction has here, probably, the same sort of connecting force which it has at the opening of Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, etc., and implies that the historian regards his work as a continuation of a preceding history.King David - The expression “king David,” instead of the simpler “David,” is characteristic of the writer of Kings. (See the introduction to the Book of Kings) The phrase is comparatively rare in Chronicles and Samuel.Stricken in, years - David was perhaps... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Kings 1:1

1 Kings 1:1. Now King David was old Being in the end of his seventieth year. They covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat Which is not strange, considering he was a person who had been exercised with so many hardships in war, and with such tormenting cares, and fears, and sorrows for his own sins, (as divers of his psalms witness,) and for the sins and miseries of his children and people. Besides, this might be from the nature of his bodily distemper, which Dr. Lightfoot thinks was a... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 1:1-53

1:1-4:34 SOLOMON ESTABLISHES HIS KINGDOMSolomon becomes king (1:1-53)David was old and his health was failing. He needed a nurse with him continually, one of her duties being to lie with him in bed to give him warmth. Although this nurse, Abishag, was not David’s concubine, many people apparently thought she was (1:1-4; see note on 2:22).Adonijah, David’s oldest surviving son, decided to establish himself as king while David was still alive, and so prevent any possible claim to the throne by... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - 1 Kings 1:1

king David: Occurs in 2 Samuel 6:12 , 2Sa 6:16 ; 2 Samuel 7:18 ; 2 Samuel 8:8 , 2Sa 8:11 ; 2 Samuel 9:5 ; 2 Samuel 13:21 , 2 Samuel 13:39 ; 2Sa 16:5 , 2 Samuel 16:6 ; 2 Samuel 17:17 , 2 Samuel 17:21 ; 2 Samuel 19:11 , 2 Samuel 19:16 . Books begins with king David and ends with king of Babylon. Opens with Temple built, and closes with Temple burnt. Begins with David's first successor on the throne of his kingdom, and ends with David's last successor released from the house of the captivity.... read more

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