_DAVID IN HIS OLD AGE IS CHERISHED BY ABISHAG. ADONIJAH, AFFECTING THE KINGDOM, CONSPIRES WITH JOAB AND ABIATHAR, SOLOMON, BY DAVID'S APPOINTMENT, IS ANOINTED KING BY ZADOK AND NATHAN. ADONIJAH, TERRIFIED, FLIES TO THE HORNS OF THE ALTAR, AND IS SPARED BY SOLOMON._ _Before Christ 1015._... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW KING DAVID WAS OLD, &C.— It appears from 2 Samuel 5:4 that he was seventy years old. The strength of nature was so far abated in him, that clothes could not keep him warm in his bed. His physicians therefore advised, that a fair and youthful virgin should be sought for, who might cherish his vit... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HIS FATHER HAD NOT DISPLEASED HIM AT ANY TIME— Strange weakness in parents and cruelty to their children, to suffer them to become incorrigible in error, or inveterate in vice, rather than restrain and correct them while correction is kindness! An extreme indulgence to his children, seems to hav... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THOU MAYEST SAVE THINE OWN LIFE, &C.— Both Solomon and Bath-sheba would have been an immediate sacrifice, if Adonijah had succeeded in his treasonable usurpation, that he might have rid himself of a dangerous rival to the throne. Bath-sheba herself foresaw this, as appears from her address to t... [ Continue Reading ]
CAUSE SOLOMON—TO RIDE UPON MINE OWN MULE— See 1 Kings 1:44. _Maimonides_ tells us, that it was a capital offence to ride upon the king's ass of mule, to sit upon his throne, or to handle his sceptre, without his order; and, on the contrary, to have the honour to ride on the king's beast by his appoi... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOU ART A VALIANT MAN— His being a valiant man was no great argument of recommendation in the present case. The original word is rendered _virtuous_ in Proverbs 12:4 and would be so rendered with much greater propriety here. The Targum has it, _thou art a man who fearest to sin._ The marginal r... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ADONIJAH—WENT, AND CAUGHT HOLD ON THE HORNS OF THE ALTAR— Conscious that he had committed a crime worthy of death, in usurping the kingdom without his father's consent, and against the known design of God, (chap. 1 Kings 2:15.) he fled for safety and protection to the altar, which was a privileg... [ Continue Reading ]