His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, “Why have you done so?” and he was also a very handsome man; and he was born after Absalom.
Parallel Translations
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His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, “Why have you done so?” and he was also a very handsome man; and he was born after Absalom.
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And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother bare him after Absalom.
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And his father had not grieved him all his life in saying: 'Why hast thou done so?' and he was also a very goodly man; and he was born after Absalom.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to 1 Kings 1:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Samuel 3:3-4 and his second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;
- 1 Samuel 3:13 For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he didn’t restrain them.
- 1 Chronicles 3:2 the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith;
- Proverbs 22:15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child: the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
- Proverbs 23:13-14 Don’t withhold correction from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod, and save his soul from Sheol.
- Proverbs 29:15 The rod of correction gives wisdom, but a child left to himself causes shame to his mother.
- Hebrews 12:5-6 You have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
- 1 Samuel 9:2 He had a son, whose name was Saul, an impressive young man; and there was not among the children of Israel a better person than he. From his shoulders and upward he was taller than any of the people.
- 1 Samuel 10:23 They ran and got him there. When he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.
- 2 Samuel 14:25 Now in all Israel there was no one to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty. From the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no defect in him.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Hebrew, days.
Hebrew, days.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Ki 1:6 And his father had not displeased him…
1Ki 1:6 And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also [was a] very goodly [man]; and [his mother] bare him after Absalom.
Ver. 6. And his father had not displeased him at any time.] Heb., From his days, i.e., from his childhood; therefore he displeased his father in his age; little caring to crush his heart when now bedridden, by his disloyalty and usurpation. But thus was still fulfilled what had been forethreatened. {2Sa 12:11}
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In saying, Why hast thou done so?] He cockered his children, whom he should have corrected if he had done right. David was ever too fond a father, and he smarted for it.
And he also was a very goodly man.] As well as Absalom: this made him think the better of himself, and his father think too well of him.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain His father had not displeased him at any time:…
His father had not displeased him at any time: this is noted as David’s great error, and the occasion of Adonijah’s presumption. Why hast thou done so? he neither restrained him from, nor reproved him for his miscarriages; which was a great sin against that plain law, Lev 19:17, and severely punished in Eli, which David was not ignorant of, except Adonijah’s errors were small, or concealed from David.
He also: this particle relates, either, first, To Absalom here following, who also was a goodly man. Or rather, secondly, To what goes before, to signify that this was a second ground of his confidence, because his great comeliness made him amiable in the people’s eyes, as his father’s indulgence was the first.
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After Absalom, i. e. next after Absalom was born of his mother: see 2Sa 3:3,4.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And his father had not displeased him at any…
And his father had not displeased him at any time,.... Always humoured him in everything, let him have his own way and will, and granted him what he desired, and never corrected him for his faults, or made him ashamed, as the Targum, by telling him of them, and chastising him for them; this was not to the credit of David, being guilty of the same sin with Eli; and on this Adonijah presumed much, that he would not contradict and countermand in this as he had not in other things before:
in saying, why hast thou done so? never so much as asked a reason of his conduct, so far was he from reproving him for it:
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and he also was a very goodly man; of a comely countenance, tall and well proportioned, as his brother Absalom, and which was another thing on which he built his hopes of succeeding in his enterprise; for in those times, as in later times, and other nations, a comely aspect and personable appearance recommended a man to the choice of the people for a supreme magistrate; see Gill on Sa1 9:2;
and his mother bare him after Absalom; not that the same woman bore him as did Absalom; for Absalom's mother was Maachah, this man's Haggith; but she bore him after Absalom's mother had bore him, so that he was next son; and now Amnon, Chileab, or Daniel, and Absalom, being all dead, he was the eldest son living, and upon this he founded his claim to the throne, and his hope of succeeding.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Displeased him - This is noted as David's great…
Displeased him - This is noted as David's great error, and the occasion of Adonijah's presumption. Saying - He neither restrained him from, nor reproved him for his miscarriages: which David well knew was a great sin. Goodly man - This was a second ground of his confidence, because his great comeliness made him amiable in the peoples eyes.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Ki 1:6-7. His father had not displeased him at…
1Ki 1:6-7. His father had not displeased him at any time — This is mentioned as David’s great error, and the occasion of Adonijah’s presumption. In saying, Why hast thou done so? — He had neither restrained him from, nor reproved him for his miscarriages, which David knew was a great sin. He also was a very goodly man — This was a second ground of his confidence, because his great comeliness made him amiable in the people’s eyes. His mother bare him after Absalom — This is mentioned as a third reason why he expected the crown. Absalom being dead, he was next to him in order of birth. See 2Sa 3:3-4. He conferred with Joab and with Abiathar — Whom it is likely he knew to be two discontented persons; the former on account of David’s putting Amasa in his place, and the other because he saw Zadok in greater favour than himself. They helped him — Probably, not so much because they thought the right of the crown was his, as with a view to oppose Solomon, and to secure and advance their own interest. It seems that God left them to themselves, to correct them for former miscarriages, with a rod of their own making.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Had not displeased him - i. e. “His father…
Had not displeased him - i. e. “His father had never checked or thwarted him all his life.”
A very goodly man - Here, too, Adonijah resembled Absalom 2Sa 14:25. The Jews, like the other nations of antiquity, regarded the physical qualities of rulers as of great importance, and wished their kings to be remarkable for strength, stature, and beauty 1Sa 9:2. Adonijah’s personal advantages no doubt helped to draw the people to him.
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His mother ... - i. e. Haggith bare Adonijah after Maacah bare Absalom 2Sa 3:3-4. The words in italics are not in the original; hence, some, by a slight alteration, read “David begat him.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. His father had not displeased him — By…
6. His father had not displeased him — By attempting to correct his youthful follies and ambitious actions. Here was one of David’s weaknesses. His parental tenderness ran away with his judgment, and caused him many sorrows.
At any time — מימיו, from his days; that is, from Adonijah’s days. All his life David had allowed him to have his own way. Schmidt, Keil, and others understand “from his days” to refer to the days of Adonijah’s ambitious movements to attain the throne; but if that were the meaning, the phrase in question would seem entirely superfluous.
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A very goodly man — That is, good-looking. Like Absalom his brother, whose beauty was praised in all the gates of Israel. 2Sa_14:25.
His mother bare him after Absalom — His mother Haggith bore him after Maacah had borne Absalom.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. had not displeased him at any time] Had…
6. had not displeased him at any time] Had never administered a rebuke whatever wrong act he might have done. We may almost judge that Absalom was in like manner a spoilt child, brought under no correction.
a very goodly man] A fine and commanding figure was no small recommendation for an aspirant to a throne. Compare the account of Saul’s personal appearance (1Sa_9:2).
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and his mother bare him after Absalom] The Hebrew has ‘and she bare him &c.,’ the italics his mother being added in A.V. to mark that the verb in the original is feminine. The same device is adopted in Num_26:59. But the English of the A.V. in the present passage might be taken to mean that Absalom and Adonijah were both sons of Haggith, whereas Absalom’s mother (2Sa_3:3) was Maacah, daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur. It is better to render and he was born, thus avoiding any ambiguity.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And his father had not displeased or pained, afflicted.…
And his father had not displeased or pained, afflicted. The LXX has ajpekwlusen him at any time Hebrews from his days, i.e., all his days, LXX oujdepote, Vulg. a diebus ejus. Sein Lebtage (Bahr). Some (Seb. Schmiat, e.g. ) would understand since the days of his ambition and display" in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also i.e. , he also, as well as Absalom, mentioned presently; or, possibly, he as well as Abishag just mentioned. Bahr"s rendering, "Und dazu war er sehr schon," etc. "And moreover he" was, etc. will not stand was a very goodly man; 2Sa_14:25. This accounted in part not only for his ambition, but also for his following and his mother the two last words are not in the original, which simply has "and she bare," hdly. There is no need, Thenius, to read, dly genuit, or with others, dyliwOh. We have a similar ellipsis in Num_26:59. The meaning is quite clear, viz., that Haggith bare Adonijah to David next after Maachah bore him Absalom. This fact is mentioned to show that he was the eldest surviving son; and it shows therefore that seniority counted for something (cf. 1 Kings if. 25) bare him after Absalom.
Moral ruin in a religious home.
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It is a notorious fact that the sons of devout men sometimes prove a curse to their parents, and bring dishonor on the cause of God. When sin entered the world, it caused the earth, on which flowers had aforetime blossomed, to bring forth thorns and briars. This is a picture of a sad truth, known in the first home, and in many another since. Eve rejoiced over the fair child she had "gotten from the Lord," and did not suspect that passions were sleeping within him which would nerve his arm to strike the fatal blow which slew his brother and destroyed his mother"s peace. Such sorrow has been experienced in subsequent history. Isaac"s heart was rent by the deceit of Jacob and the self will of Esau. Jacob found his own sin repeated against himself, for he who had deceived his father when he was old and blind, suffered an agony of grief for years, because he was falsely told by his sons that Joseph was dead. Probably few have had more domestic sorrow than David. He experienced, in its bitterest form, the grief of a parent who has wished that before his son had brought such dishonour on the home, he had been, in the innocence of his childhood, laid to rest beneath the daisies. Of David"s sons, Amnon, the eldest, after committing a hideous sin, had been assassinated by the order of Absalom, his brother. Absalom himself had rebelled against his father, and had been killed by Joab, as he hung helpless in the oak. Chileab (or Daniel) was dead. And now of the fourth son, the eldest surviving, Adonijah, this sad story is told. Adonijah"s sin seems so unnatural at first sight that we must try and discover the sources whence so bitter and desolating a stream flowed. We shall find them in THREE ADVERSE INFLUENCES AROUND HIM AT HOME, which are hinted at in our text.
I ADONIJAH INHERITED A CONSTITUTIONAL TENDENCY AMBITION AND SELF CONCEIT. His association with Absalom is not without significance. The two brothers were alike in their sin and in the tendencies which led to it. These were inherited,
(1) The law that like produces like," which is proved to demonstration in the breeding of lower animals (illustrations from horses bred for speed or endurance, dogs for fleetness or scent, pigeons for swiftness or beauty, etc.), asserts itself in man. Not only are physical qualities inherited, so that we recognise a "family likeness" between children of the same parents; but mental qualities are inherited too; statesmanship, heroism, or artistic gift, reappearing in the same family for generations. Moral tendencies are transmitted too; and Scripture exemplifies it. If Isaac is so luxurious that he must have his savoury dish, we do not so much wonder that Esau, his son sells his birthright for a mess of pottage. If Rebekah, like Laban her brother, is greedy and cunning, her son Jacob inherits her tendency, and must live a life of suffering, and present many an agonising prayer before he is set free from his besetting sin. So is it still. The drunkard gives to his offspring a craving for drink, which is a disease. In more senses than one, "The evil that men do lives after them." Surely, then, when not only future happiness, but the destiny of children depends on the choice of a life partner, there should be regard paid not merely to physical beauty, or mental endowment, or social position, but, above all these, to moral and spiritual worth.
(2) It is argued that this law of moral heritage affects personal responsibility; that it is hardly fair to condemn a man for a sin to which he is naturally prone. But "shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Whatever your parentage, you are not "committed to do these abominations." If the disposition be evil, it need never become the habit of life. It is something you may yield to, but it is something you may resist; for "He is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able to bear." Rather should any tendencies to evil be recognised as God"s voice calling attention to the weak places of character, that there we may keep most eager watch and ward. And because we are weak, He has sent His Son to bring deliverance to the captives, that through Him we may be inspired with hope, and fitted with strength, and rejoice in the liberty wherewith Christ makes His people free.
II ADONIJAH WAS MISLED BY ADULATION. He was also a very goodly man. " Physically, as well as morally, he was a repetition of Absalom. His parents were guilty of partiality. David loved him the more because (like the lost boy) Adonijah was so fair, so noble in mien, so princely in stature. Courtiers and soldiers (who looked, as they did in Saul"s time, for a noble-looking king) flattered him. Joab and Abiathar joined the adulators. Intoxicated with vanity, Adonijah set up a royal court, as Absalom had done (see ver. 5). Every position in life has its own temptations. The ill-favoured child who is the butt at school and the scapegoat at home is tempted to bitterness and revenge. His character is likely to be unsightly, as a plant would be, which grows in a damp, dark vault. There can belittle beauty if there is no sunshine. On the other hand, if the gift of physical beauty attracts attention and wins admiration, or if conversational power be brilliant, etc., it is a source of peril. Many a one has thus been befooled into sin and misery, or entrapped into an unhappy marriage, and by lifelong sadness paid the penalty of folly, or venturing too far, prompted by ambition, has fallen, like Icarus when his waxen wings melted in the sunshine. When that time of disappointment and disenchantment comes, happy is it when such a one, like the prodigal, comes to himself, and says, "I will arise, and go to my father!
III ADONIJAH WAS UNDISCIPLINED AT HOME. His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so?" This refers not only to the special act of rebellion, but to the tendencies and habits leading up to it, which David had not checked, for fear of vering the high spirited lad. The weak indulgence of children (such as that which Eli exhibited) is the cause of untold misery. Not many parents blazon abroad the story of their domestic grief. Loyal hands draw down the veil over the discord at home, and that agony of prayer which is heard by "the Father who seeth in secret." You do not see the girl who mars the beauty of her early womanhood by a flippant disregard of her parents, and whose own pleasure seems to be the only law of her life. You do not see the child whose hasty passion and uncontrolled temper are the dread of the household; who, by his ebullitions of rage, gets what he wishes, till authority is disregarded and trodden underfoot. You do not see the son who thinks it manly to be callous to a mother"s anxiety and a father"s counsels, who likes to forget home associations, and is sinking in haunts of evil, where you may weep over him as a wreck. But, though you see them not, they exist. Far otherwise, in some of these sad experiences, it might have been. Suppose there had been firm resolution instead of habitual indulgence; suppose that authority had been asserted and used in days before these evil habits were formed; suppose that, instead of leaving the future to chance, counsels and prayers had moulded character during moulding time might there not have been joy where now there is grief? Heavy are our responsibilities as parents. Yet splendid are our possibilities! These children who may prove our curses may, with God"s blessing on our fidelity, grow up to be wise, pure hearted, courageous men of God, who will sweeten the atmosphere of the home, and purge this nation of its sins, and make the name of "the King of saints" honoured and praised throughout the world! "Train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. A.R. And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto Heb. wrought with thy servant David my father great mercy marg., favour according as he walked Before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee cf. 2Ki_20:3, where Hezekiah uses much the same language of himself. Also ch. 11:4, and thou hast kept for him this great kindness Heb. favour; same word as above. David himself had regarded this as a singular mercy, (1Ki_1:48) that thou hast given him a son to sit Heb. sitting upon his throne, as it is this day. Same expression Deu_6:24 Deu_8:18; 1 Samuel Ezr_9:7.
Vers. 6, 7.
The reverent prayer of a royal petitioner.
Solomon had a more peaceful reign and greater outward glory than David. Yet much is said in Scripture about the father, and little about the son. This revelation of God"s truth about men and things is less concerned with splendid surroundings than with secret struggles. Few, if any, are made great by splendour. Hence a few verses suffice to tell of Solomon"s ships and palaces, and gold and ivory; but many chapters are devoted to accounts of David"s temptations, deliverances, and prayers. We have God"s estimate of Solomon"s magnificence in the memorable words of Christ, "Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these." From these words we infer that human greatness does not claim God"s regard, but that He cares for lilies as well as for kings; so that from none of us, however lowly our lot, is the privilege of prayer, granted to Solomon, withheld. The prayer before us was characterized by the following excellences:
I GRATITUDE. (Ver. 6.) Solomon thanked God for what his father had been. David was far from being a sinless man, but his son loyally veiled his faults, and praised God for what he had been to himself and others. What reasons for gratitude many have in this respect. Loving care during the feebleness of infancy; provision for education, etc., often the result of habitual self denial; protection of the home not only from physical, but from moral evils, in the shape of bad literature, companions, etc. These are the ordinary blessings from parenthood, but often there are more than these, e.g., the moral heritage of wholesome tendencies; the good name, to be chosen rather than great riches; the repression of evil, and encouragement of good habits of thought and action; the counsels and warnings to the inexperienced; the Christian truth revealed in the holy life, proclaimed by the loving lips. Few blessings are greater than these; but few are less thankfully recognized. Gratitude should reveal itself in tender consideration, in graceful courtesies, in prompt obedience, etc., in the home, and should express itself in praise to the Giver of all good gifts. This is but an example of subjects for graft. tude: others may be suggested.
II SOLEMNITY. The young king seemed overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility. He was about to succeed a father renowned as a warrior, as a statesman, as a poet, as a ruler of men. He was about to rule a numerous and prosperous people, who had been specially declared to be the Lord"s, so that he would be henceforth the representative of Jehovah. He foresaw that there would be snares not easy to avoid, difficulties hard to surmount; and therefore he dared not go forward without the prayer, "O God of my father, stand by me." Contrast this with the light spirit in which life work is often undertaken. Describe a father about to vacate his plan in business, or in the Church, whose honour has been unstained, who has been a king amongst men, and urge on any who are about to succeed to such an inheritance the responsibility incurred, that they may feel "who is sufficient for these things?" To go on to unknown temptations, to unattempted duties, in a flippant, godless spirit, is to show the foolhardiness of the captain who, in strange waters, wrecks his vessel on the hidden shoal, because he scorns to employ a pilot.
III HOPEFULNESS. In ver. 4 he tacitly refers to what God had done for his father, as an example and pledge of what God could do for him. He implies that the promise, like the throne, came by inheritance. This was the teaching of the patriarchal dispensation. It was not withdrawn by Christ, who came "not to destroy, but to fulfil." Hence, in the first sermon preached after the baptism of the Church by the Holy Spirit, Peter refers to, and endorses for this dispensation, the declaration of Joel, "The promise is unto you, and to your children. Show how the privileges of Christian parentage keep pace with its responsibilities. What God had been to David was a sign to Solomon, his son, of what God would do for him; and therefore he prayed with eager hope.
IV HUMILITY. "I am but a little child." Solomon had enough to make him proud. He was immensely rich, was flattered by courtiers, was obeyed by a disciplined army, was strikingly handsome, (Ps 45) and was at an age (twenty years old) when no one thinks least of himself. But he recognized that God made him what he was ("Thou hast made Thy servant king"), and that, so far as wisdom and ability were concerned, he was "but a little child." Such has been the spirit of all truly great men, e.g., Moses, when called in Midian; (Exo_3:11) Isaiah, when he saw the Lord in the temple; (Isa 6) Jeremiah, when invested with prophetic office. (Jer 1) This humility should characterize all who approach God. Refer to the Pharisee and publican; (Luk_18:10-14) also to declaration that except we become as little children we cannot enter the kingdom. Contrast Solomon with his brothers, Absalom and Adonijah. He was content to wait God"s time, and so was prepared for the place prepared for him. The chrysalis waits is kept back in its inactive stage, till both the wings are ready for the sunshine, and the sunshine ready for the wings. Humbly let us wait for the higher spheres of earth and the highest spheres of heaven. A.R.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.