838 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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO FIRST KINGS 4 As in the preceding chapter we have a proof of the wisdom and understanding which the Lord gave to Solomon, as promised, so in this an account is given of the riches and honour he was possessed of; of him, as king over all Israel, and of his princes, 1 Kings 4:1; of the providers of food for his household in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So King Solomon was king over all Israel. As David his father was not at first, only over Judah, and as Solomon's successors were not, after the division of the kingdom under his son Rehoboam; though this seems to have a particular respect to what is related in the preceding chapter concerning the wisdom of Solomon, for which he was so famous,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And these [were] the princes which he had,.... That were in office about him, in the highest posts of honour and trust: Azariah the son of Zadok the priest: or rather his grandson, since Ahimaaz was the son of Zadok, and Azariah the son of Ahimaaz, 1 Chronicles 6:8; though another Zadok may be meant, and his son not a priest but a prince, as the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes,.... Their father Shisha, the same with Sheva, was scribe only in David's time; and he being dead very probably, both his sons were continued in the office as secretaries of state, Solomon having more business for such an office, see 2 Samuel 20:25; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder; who...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was] over the host,.... General of the army in the room of Joab, 1 Kings 2:35; and Zadok and Abiathar [were] the priests; so they were when Solomon came to the throne; but Abiathar was deposed by him after some time, though he might retain the name afterwards, and be employed, as Ben Gersom thinks, in case of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Azariah the son of Nathan [was] over the officers,.... The twelve officers who provided food for Solomon's household after mentioned: and Zabud the son of Nathan; another of the sons of Nathan the prophet: for he being a principal instrument of settling Solomon on the throne, had interest enough to promote his sons to the chief places of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abiathar [was] over the household,.... Steward of the household: and Adoniram the son of Abda [was] over the tribute, over those that collected the tribute, as the Targum, whether from the people of Israel or other nations, or both; this man was in the same post in David's time, 2 Samuel 20:24.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel,.... Not with respect to the twelve tribes of Israel, for it does not appear that they had each of them a tribe under them, but some particular places in a tribe; but with respect to the twelve months of the year, in which each took his turn: which provided victuals for the king and his household:...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And these [are] their names,.... Or rather the names of their fathers; for of many of them not their own names but their fathers' names are given, as being well known: the son of Hur, in Mount Ephraim; a fruitful country in the tribe of Ephraim, from whence this officer was to furnish the king with provisions for one month in the year.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The son of Dekar in Makaz,.... A place in the tribe of Dan, on the borders of it: and in Shaalbim, and Bethshemesh, and Elonbethhanan; all in the same tribe, see Joshua 19:41.