The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 14

nlgneth ; &nd now my Lord the king, thou Ver. 211.-And lo, while she yet talked knoweet it not. with the king, Nathan the prophet also Ver. 19.-And he hath Blain oxen &nd came in. [Heh. came, i.e., to the palace. fat cattle a.nd sheep in abundance, &nd " Came in" almost implies that he entered bath called all the sone of the king, and the room, which he did not till summoned Ablathar the prleet, a.nd Joab the captain (ver. 23). Observe, Nathan's words convey of the host ; but Solomon thy servant hath no suggestio Jalsi. He does not deny a pre- be not called. [Said, not to " show that vious interview with Bathsheba, nor does he Solomon had reason to fee.r the worst if confess it. If there is an appee.rnuce of arti- Adonijah should succeed" (Keil), but to fice, there was no intention to deceive. And prove that there was a plot. It showed the the artifice, such as it was, was not only cloven foot. J harmless, but for the public good. \er: 20.-And thou [instead of l"I~~\ the Ver. 22.-And they told the king, say- Cha.Id., SyT., and Vnlg., with manyMSS. read ing, Behold Nathan the prophet [we are l"ll;llJ) "and now;" but this looks like an scarcely justified in seeing in this " solemn announcement of his approach " an II indi- emendation, and " proclivi lectioni priz- cation of the consideration in which he was stat ardua." Simile.rly, the second "now" held " (Stanley). It is difficult to see how in ver. 18 appears as " thou " in 200 MSS. otherwise he could be announced. It is These variations are of very little conse- clear that he was constantly spoken of as quence, but the received text, in both cases, "the prophet'' (vers. 10, 22, 34, 38, &o. is somewhat the more spirited] my lord, 0 Cf. 2 Sam. vii. 2 ; xii. 25] . And when he king [the repetition (see vers. 18, 21, 24, was come in before [Heb. and he came bejOTe 27) illustrates the profound deference &nd -three words instead of sixl the king, be court paid to the Hebrew mon.e.rch (see on bowed himself before the king with bis ver. 16), especially when we remember that face to the ground [see on vers. 16, 20; these a.re the.words of a wife], the eyes of all e.nd cf. ver. 31, where we have a similar Israel are upon thee (cf. eh. ii 15) that thou expression. " In the Assyrian sculptures, Ehouldest tell them who shall sit on the ambassadors a.re represented with their faces throne of my lord the king after him, actually touchmg the earth before the feet This shows that there was no "right of the monarch" (Rawlinson). This pro- of primogeniture." The kings of the East found reverence on the part of Ne.than is have always designated their successor the more reme.rke.ble, when we remember amongst their sons. " Alye.ttes desig- how he had once denounced David to his nated Craasus ; Cyrus designated Cam- face (2 Sam. xii. 7)] . byses, and Darius designated Xerxes" Ver. 24.-And Nathan eald, My Lord, 0 (Rawlinson). "The Shah of Persia, at the k:l.ng, bast thou aald [the H~b. has no beginning of this century, had sixty sons, question, but a strong affirme.tion : " thou all brought up by their mothers, with the hast said," i.e., "thou must have said (D_11 hope of succeeding" (Morier, quoted by hast wohl gesagt." Biihr). Nathan put~ it Stanley). And the kings of Israel claimed thus forcibly, in order to dl:aw from the king and exercised a similar right (2 Chron. xi. 22; a disclaimer], Adonljah shall rel.gn after :ui. 3). me a.nd be shall sit upon my throne 7 Ver. 21.-0therwise [there is no corre- [B.:.me words as in vers. 13, 17, e.nd possibly sponding word in the Heh.] it Bhall come to designedly so. The coincidence conveys the pass, when my lord the king ehall sleep meaning, " Thou hast sworn Solo~on shall [strictly, "lie down : " see on eh. ii.10] with reign," &c. 11 Thou hast said, AdowJe.h shall his fathers [this phrase, so common in the reign," &c. J books of Kings and Chronicles, only occurs Ver. 25.-Por [proof the.t the king must "once in the Penta.tench (Dent. x:xxi.. 16) have decreed that Adonijah should succeed and once in the historical books before him. There appears to be an undertone of Kings" (Rawlinson). It was evidently the reproof in these words. Nathan assum~s product of an age when the nation was set- that Adonijah cannot have done all this tled, and men had their fe.mily sepulchres] without David's knowledge and so.notion, that I and my son Solomon aball be counted because "his father had not displeased [Heh. be] offenders [Heh. as marg., sinners. him at any time" (ver. 6). This uprising The primary meaning of t(~Q i. " to miss the was the result of David's over-indulgence mark.'' Like aµapravE1v, it came to be used a.nd want of firmnessJ he le gone down this of all err-ing and transgression. Bathsheba day, and ha.tb slain [see on ver. 9] oxen and and Solomon would be obnoxioue to Adoni- fat ca.ttle and sheep 1n abundance, and je.h, as representing a rival cause ; possibly hath called all the king's sons, and the elso e.s guilty of 1iigll trea.flOll (Olerious, ca.ptalDI of the host [Joab was the cap. Bahr, al.) ta.in (ver. 19). The plural shows that other Oll, I, 1-68.J THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 7