30 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And this woman's child died in the night,.... Whether the same night following the day it was born is not certain; because she overlaid it; or laid upon it, being heavy through sleep, and not knowing what she did, turned herself upon it, and smothered it; because it had no previous illness, or any marks of any disease it could be thought to die...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And she arose at midnight,.... Perceiving what she had done, that she had overlaid her child, and it was dead; either through fear of punishment inflicted on persons thus negligent, or because of the disgrace of it, taking no more care of her child, she made use of the following stratagem: and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck,.... As she used to do: behold, it was dead; her own child, as she thought at first: but when I had considered it in the morning; it was towards morning, or just at break of day, when she arose to suckle it, and found it dead: but when it was broad day, and the light of the morning was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the other woman said,.... The defendant: nay, but the living [is] my son, and the dead [is] thy son; she denied what the other said, but offered nothing in proof of it: and this said; she who was the plaintiff replied in the same language: no: but the dead [is] thy son, and the living [is] my son; without being able to add anything in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then said the king,.... As judge, summing up what had been said on both sides, which were only bare assertions without proof; the one affirming what the other denied, and the other denying what the other affirmed: the one saith, this [is] my son that liveth, and thy son [is] the dead; and the other saith nay; but thy son [is] the dead, and my son...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king said, bring me a sword,.... The design of which might not at first appear to the court, and it might be thought strange, and greatly wondered at: what should be the meaning of it: and they brought a sword before the king; his commands were obeyed.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king said,.... To one of his officers: divide the living child in two; not that he meant it should be actually done, though it might at first be thought he really intended it, and so strike the minds of some with horror, as it did, however, the mother; but he ordered this, to try the affections of the women, and thereby come to the true...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then spake the woman, whose the living child [was], unto the king,.... In haste, and with great vehemency, lest the executioner should at once dispatch it: (for her bowels yearned upon her son); not being able to bear to see his life taken away: and she said, O my lord: or, "on me (q), my lord"; let the sin, the lie that I have told, be on me, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the king answered and said, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it,.... That is, to her who desired it might not be slain, but rather be given to her who had no right to it: she [is] the mother thereof; which might be strongly concluded from her compassion for it, her eagerness and earnestness to have its life spared, and from the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged,.... In the above case; the decision of it was divulged throughout the land, and the fame of it was spread everywhere: and they feared the king; reverenced him as a wise, judicious, and faithful king, and feared to do anything of a criminal nature, as perceiving that he was so...