48 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Bathsheba therefore went unto King Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah,.... She went from her own house to the palace; for she might not live at court; or however had an apartment to herself, from whence she went to the king with her suit in favour of Adonijah: and the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her; upon her entrance...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee,.... It was but one, and a little one, and therefore she hoped it would be granted: [I pray thee], say me not nay; do not refuse it, or deny it me, or turn away my thee with shame and disappointment: and the king said, ask on, my mother, for I will not say thee nay; since it is a small one, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And she said, let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah thy brother to wife. For so Adonijah was by his father's side; and Bathsheba makes use of the relation, the more to move upon him to grant the request.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And King Solomon answered and said unto his mother,.... With as much gentleness and mildness as he could, but inwardly fired at her request, and amazed at it, and could not forbear using some degree of tartness and resentment: and why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? is this a small petition? is this a fit and lawful one? ask for...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then King Solomon sware by the Lord,.... To prevent his mother pressing him to have her petition granted: saying, God do so to me, and more also; lay such and such evils upon me, and more than I care to express: if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life; to his own prejudice, and even to the loss of his life; in which Solomon...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now therefore, as the Lord liveth,.... Which is another oath; and one may easily perceive hereby in what a temper and disposition Solomon was, how warm, earnest, and vehement, how resolute against the petition, and how determined he was to punish Adonijah and his confederates: which hath established me, and set me upon the throne of David my...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada,.... Orders to execute him, and proper persons to do it; perhaps some of the Cherethites and Pelethites under him, to assist at least in it: and he fell upon him, that he died; Benaiah rushed in upon him with his men, and thrust his sword into him, and killed him; executions used to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And unto Abiathar the priest said the king,.... Who was either at court, or he sent for him, and thus addressed him: get thee to Anathoth; a city of the tribe of Benjamin, given to the priests, Joshua 21:18; of which place Abiathar might be originally, and whither he is bid to return: unto thine own fields; which belonged to him there, either by...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the Lord,.... He deposed him from his office of high priest, otherwise I suppose he might officiate as a common priest, at least in some of the branches of it; this was done by his own authority as a king, and not as a prophet, as Bellarmine vainly distinguishes; and not by the authority of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then tidings came to Joab,.... Of the death of Adonijah, and the deposition of Abiathar: for Joab had turned after Adonijah; publicly appeared at his feast, when he was saluted king by him, and others, and privately gave him advice in the affair of Abishag: though he turned not after Absalom; did not join with him in his rebellion, but faithfully...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it was told King Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord,.... This account was brought him very probably by some of his courtiers: and, behold, [he is] by the altar; to which he betook himself for refuge, laying hold on the horns of it: then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, go, fall upon him; slay him;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the Lord,.... At Gibeon: and said unto him; that is, to Joab: thus saith the king, come forth; meaning, out of the tabernacle; which plainly shows that his orders were not to slay him in it: and he said, nay, but I will die here; since he must die, he chose to die there; but what was his reason for it is not...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king said unto him, do as he hath said, and fall upon him, and bury him,.... Let him die where he is, slay him upon the spot, and then bury him; not by the altar, but in his own sepulchre, as later related, that in, give orders to bury him there; for Benaiah being a priest, could not be concerned in the burial of him, and besides it was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head,.... By way of retaliation, blood for blood: who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he; later named; for though they had been in open rebellion against David, yet had submitted, and were reconciled and received into favour; and even their open crimes were not so bad, Solomon...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever,.... Not only upon Joab, but upon his posterity as long as there would be any; signifying, that Joab's death would not be a sufficient satisfaction, but the punishment of his murders would be continued to his offspring: see 2 Samuel 3:29; but upon...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up,.... To Gibeon, which was a great high place, 1 Kings 3:4; and fell upon him, and slew him; at the altar; or, dragging him from it at some distance, drew his sword and slew him: and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness; not in his dwelling house strictly taken, but in a garden or field adjoining...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his room over the host,.... Advanced him from being captain of his bodyguards to be general of the army: and Zadok the priest did he put in the room of Abiathar; from a common priest he promoted him to the high priesthood; whereby that office was restored to its ancient line, the family or Eleazar,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king sent and called for Shimei,.... Who had cursed his father; he lived at Bahurim, in the tribe of Benjamin, and from thence he sent for him to him, 2 Samuel 16:5; and said unto him, build thee an house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and go not from thence any where; the orders were to remove from Bahurim to Jerusalem, where he was to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For it shall be, [that] on the day thou goest out,.... Out of the city of Jerusalem: and passest over the brook Kidron: which is particularly mentioned, because this lay in his way to Bahurim, his native place; he must cross that to go to it, see 2 Samuel 15:23; and where it might reasonably be supposed he would some time or another be inclined to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Shimei said unto the king, the saying [is] good,.... It was an act of goodness in the king, and what was good, grateful, and acceptable to him; for being sent for by him, and knowing how he had used his father, and hearing of several traitors being put to death, he expected this would have been his case; and wherefore, instead of being put to...