1 Kings 1:1-4

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

John Gill

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

Wherefore his servants said unto him ,.... His physicians; so Joseph's physicians are called his servants, Genesis 50:2 ; let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin ; not only a young woman, but a virgin, that has more natural heat than women that have bore children have, which is abated thereby: and let her stand before the king : minister to him, serve him with whatsoever he should want to eat or drink; and so by being in his presence, and taking things at her hand,... read more

John Gill

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

So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel ,.... Not only a damsel, but a beautiful one, that she might be the more acceptable to the king; who otherwise, if deformed and ugly, would not have endured her in his sight, or received at her hands, and much less suffered her to lie in his bosom: and found Abishag a Shunammite ; a native of the city Shunem, a city in the tribe of Issachar, Joshua 19:18 ; and brought her to the king ; for his approbation of her,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 1:4

And the damsel was very fair ,.... And so very agreeable to the king to be in his presence, and wait upon him, and take things of her hand, as well as lie with him: and cherished the king ; enlivened his spirits by her amiable countenance, her graceful behaviour, and tender care of him, and especially by bedding with him: and ministered to him ; serving him with her own hands whatever he took for his sustenance: but the king knew her not ; as a man knows his wife; which shows... 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

Adam Clarke

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

Let there be sought - a young virgin - This was the best remedy which in his state could be prescribed. His nearly exhausted frame would infallibly absorb from her young and healthy body an additional portion of animal heat, and consequently trim and revive the flame of animal life. This is properly, as I have elsewhere expressed it, Friar Bacon's secret for the cure of old age. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Kings 1:4

The king knew her not - The maxim of Bacon in his enigmatical cure is, "Take all you can from the medicine, but give nothing to it; if you give any thing, it increases the disease and hastens death." I have seen this abundantly verified; but it is a subject on which it would be improper to dilate except in a medical work. An extract from Friar Bacon's Cure of Old Age may be found at the end of the chapter. 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

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