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Ver. 10. But Nathan the prophet.] These were no whit the worse men for being thus neglected. The wise historian observed, that the statues of Brutus and Cassius were the more glorious and illustrious, because they were not brought out with other images in a solemn procession at the funeral of Germanicus. Cato said he had rather men should question why he had no statue or monument erected to him, than why he had. Tacit.
Ver. 11. Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bathsheba.] See here, saith P. Martyr, how God by weak means confoundeth the mighty, and worketh for the accomplishment of his own will. And David our lord knoweth it not.] Either Adonijah’s partisans and parasites kept it from David, or else through age and weakness he took no notice of it.
Ver. 12. That thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon.] Which the usurper will surely take away if he carry the crown; not suffering any such rub to lie in the way, that may hinder the true running of his bowl.
Ver. 13. Didst not thou swear…unto thine handmaid?] This was done, say the Rabbis, at that time when David comforted Bathsheba, and went in unto her, and lay with her. (2 Samuel 12:24) Lyra saith, that then it was revealed unto him, that this son of his by Bathsheba should reign after him: this was no small comfort to her.
Ver. 14. I will come in after thee, and confirm thy words,] Heb., Fill up—that is, say the same, and more. There are some seeming contradictions in Scripture: and though they seem to be as the accusers of Christ, never a one speaking like the other, yet if we understand, we shall find them speaking like Nathan and Bathsheba, both speaking the same things. Pollicetur suam operam in praetexenda tela.
Ver. 15. And the king was very old.] Yet little more than half so old as a plain countryman whom I spoke with yesterday, being May 15, A.D. 1656, at Stratford-upon-Avon, who assured me, and gave good proof of it, that he was a hundred and twenty-eight of age, being born A.D. 1527. He is still hearty and healthy, living at Bedworth in Warwickshire, Thomas Egerton by name.
Ver. 16. What wouldest thou?] Heb., What to thee? q.d., I am ready to hearken to thee. She had been a good wife to him, and knew how to command him by obeying him, as Livia did Augustus, and much better. For Livia, notwithstanding her smooth carriage toward her husband, is foully slandered, if she were not over familiar with Eudemus her physician, and if she did not at his death help to set him going, lest he should alter his will, and put her son Tiberius beside the empire. But good Bathsheba was none such. Plin. Eutrop.
Ver. 17. Shall reign after me.] This was the substance of the promise confirmed by oath. And he shall sit upon my throne.] This was the evidence thereof. She allegeth both, doing as Nathan had dictated unto her.
Ver. 18. And now, behold, Adonijah reigneth.] His ambition hath turned off his obedience. Had his right to the kingdom been never so good, yet to step into the throne, while his father was yet living, without his privity and consent, was no better than treason.
Ver. 19. But Solomon thy servant.] Not thy sovereign, as Adonijah affecteth to be. See on 1 Kings 1:9,10.
Ver. 20. That thou shouldest tell them, &c.] This some princes love not to do, -Queen Elizabeth for instance. A false Jesuit wrote, that she wished she might after her death hang a while in the air, to see what scuffling there would be for her kingdom. Os durum! fowl mouth!
Ver. 21. Shall be counted offenders.] Heb., Sinners. Erimus Mamzeres -so Jerome senseth it, out of the Hebrew traditions—that is, we shall be accounted bastards and infamous. It is probable that Adonijah had spoken basely of Bathsheba as an adulteress, and of Solomon as illegitimate, and so not fit to be king. Or by sinners here understand rebels, and public enemies.
Ver. 22. Nathan the prophet also came in.] And so Bathsheba went out, (1 Kings 1:28) that it might not appear to be a plot betwixt them.
Ver. 23. Behold Nathan the prophet.] Who was a privy counsellor to David, though he had so sharply reproved him. (2 Samuel 12:1-12) He bowed himself before the king.] Note here the exemplary modesty and submission of so great a prophet. How far from this is the false prophet of Rome!
Ver. 24. Hast thou said?] q.d., I think not. Exordium ex abrupto, per admirationem.
Ver. 25. And hath slain oxen and fat cattle.] See on 1 Kings 1:14.
Ver. 26. But me, even me.] As some useless person, as an ουτιδανος, as if I were no prophet of the Lord, or as if there were not a woe to such rebellious children as “take counsel, but not of God; and cover with a covering, but not of his Spirit, that they may add sin to sin.” (Isaiah 30:1)
Ver. 27. And thou hast not showed it, &c.] See on 1 Kings 1:23.
Ver. 28. Call me Bathsheba.] See on 1 Kings 1:22.
Ver. 29. Who hath delivered my soul.] Deliverance commandeth obedience. (Ezra 9:13,14)
Ver. 30. Even so will I certainly do this day.] Before tomorrow: for the business requireth expedition, since, “ sero medicina paratur, Cum mala per longas invaluere moras.’’—Ovid.
Ver. 31. Let my lord king David live for ever,] i.e., Let him live his utmost. Agrippina hastened her husband Claudius the emperor’s death, that her son Nero might succeed: yea, she cried out Occidar, modo imperet. But good Bathsheba was not so hasty.
Ver. 32. And Nathan the prophet.] So far was David from hatred of truth, that he loved Nathan the better for his plain dealing while he lived, gave him free access to his bedchamber, and now nameth him a commissioner for the declaring of his successor.
Ver. 33. Take with you the servants of your lord.] My guard, and the garrison soldiers that are at hand. To ride upon mine own mule.] In token that I have transferred upon him the royal dignity. (Esther 6:8) And bring him down to Gihon.] The Chaldee hath it, To Siloe, where the waters ran softly and constantly. Hereby, saith Martyr, David would set forth his desire that Solomon’s reign might be mild and moderate, as also perpetuum et perenne, durable and longlasting.
Ver. 34. And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet.] That the young king might learn betime to hearken to such, and to give them all due respect.
Ver. 35. For he shall be king in my stead.] The son of our King Henry II was crowned king by his father, who at his coronation renounced the name of a king for that day, and as sewer served at that table. But this young king was so puffed up with his new dignity, that he soon bore arms against his father; and dying of discontent before his father, got not so much by his coronation as to have a name in the catalogue of the kings of England. But Solomon had learned better things both of his father (Proverbs 4:4) and mother, (Proverbs 31:10-31) and tutor Nathan.
Ver. 36. Amen: the Lord…say so too.] Amen is, (1.) Assenting; (2.) Assevering; (3.) Assuring. It is as much as So be it; yea, So it shall be; It must be so, if, as here, the Lord our God say so too. Only we must stretch out our hearts after our Amen, say the Rabbis, and be swallowed up in God.
Ver. 37. And make his throne greater.] God heard this prayer, and said Amen to it, set his fiat to it: for Solomon’s reign, accomplished with a civil and religious happiness, represented the triumphant Church in heaven: as David’s reign had been a figure of the Church militant upon earth.
Ver. 38. And brought him to Gihon.] See on 1 Kings 1:33.
Ver. 39. Took an horn of oil.] Whereof there was great use in the tabernacle. It was not that holy oil which was at first provided for the anointing of the priests, [see Exodus 30:32, “Upon man’s flesh shall it not be poured”] but some other, to show that magistrates should be holy and gracious: whence also the seat of judicature is called the holy place. (Ecclesiastes 8:10) And anointed Solomon.] When he was twenty years of age, saith Lyra: some say twenty-four. God save king Solomon,] i.e., Rex Pacificus: so the Greeks had their Irenaei, the Germans their Fredericks, (that is, rich in peace,) and the Turks their Selims and Solymans.
Ver. 40. Piped with pipes.] Or, Flutes; that Adonijah’s party might hear and be startled with those noises, which at once proclaimed Solomon’s triumph, and their confusion. And rejoiced with great joy.] By the special operation of God’s Spirit, [see 1 Chronicles 12:40] and to shadow forth the great joy which the saints should take in the kingdom of Christ. (Zechariah 9:9) So that the earth rent.] After a sort, with their loud acclamations, Hyperbole sumpta a fragoris similitudine.
Ver. 41. As they had made an end of eating.] Ever after the meal is ended, comes the reckoning. Adonijah’s feast, as all wicked men’s, endeth in horror; for the last dish, is served up astonishment and fearful expectation of just revenge. So doth the wise and just God befool proud and insolent sinners in those secret plots wherein they hope to undermine the son of David, the Prince of peace.
Ver. 42. And bringest good tidings.] So Adonijah would have had it; but the expectation of the wicked shall perish; when they are at the height of their joys and hopes, God oft confoundeth all their devices, and layeth them open to the scorn of the world, and to the anguish of their own guilty hearts.
Ver. 43. Verily our lord king David,] q.d., Good news say you? truly not so good as you think, for all is like to be nought on your side: Postea nullus eris. Afterward it will be nothing.
Ver. 44. And the king hath sent with him Zadok.] All this relation was to Adonijah and his guests, as those knuckles of a man’s hand were to Belshazzar, to write them their destiny; or as Daniel was to him, to read it unto them.
Ver. 45. This is the noise that ye have heard.] A doleful knell to those who had feasted and boasted themselves in a jocund security and promise of success. “A dreadful sound is in their ears: in prosperity the destroyer cometh upon them. Trouble and anguish maketh them afraid, whilst they prevail against them as a king ready to the battle.” (Job 15:21,24)
Ver. 46. And also Solomon sitteth.] He is in actual possession, and therefore you are lost. Every man is either a king or a captive; Aut Caesar, aut nullus. Either Caesar or no one. Every man, saith Augustine, shall either reign with Christ, or be damned with the devil.
Ver. 47. Better than thy name, and his throne greater.] This wish of his servants was no grief of heart to the old king, but a matter of joy. So they prayed for Hector’s son in Homer, “ πατρος δ ογε πολλον αμεινων. ” And Claudian thus bespeaketh Honorius the emperor— “ Aspice, completur votum; iam natus adaequat Te meritis, et quod magis est optabile, vincit.” And the king bowed himself upon the bed.] Worshipping God, as Genesis 47:31, and joining in prayer with his servants for his son. Some think he bowed himself to his son now crowned king: what, then, would he have done to his Lord, if present?, (Psalms 110:1) quos non honores in illum supplex ac venerabundus certatim contulisset? Bucholcer.
Ver. 48. To sit on my throne this day.] Nevertheless David did not during his life wholly lay aside the kingly power; but gave it to his son whilst he was yet alive.
Ver. 49. And all the guests.] Who had now nothing so good cheer as Solomon’s guests, praise at parting; those that erewhile fed without fear, are now in great horror, the traitor’s raced. Were afraid, and rose up, and went, &c.] Here is τροπος και τοπος, quo loco et quomodo diffugerint, how and whither they slunk away.
Ver. 50. On the horns of the altar.] Which hitherto, haply, he had despised.
Ver. 51. Hath caught hold on the horns.] Hither fled malefactors, as to a place of security, (Exodus 21:14) though there was no law for it.
Ver. 52. If he will show himself a worthy man.] viz., For future; his present offence I pardon him, but he is upon his good behaviour. A worthy man.] Heb., A son of valour: if he can conquer his passions, and submit to my government.
Ver. 53. Go to thine house.] Meddle not with state matters, but mind thine own affairs; Res tuas age, intra tuam pelliculam te contine. “ Vivo tibi, quantumque potes praelustria vita. ”