1 Kings 2:23-25 sits inside this longer paragraph.
22King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” 23Then king Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, “God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life. 24Now therefore as Yahweh lives, who has established me, and set me on my father David’s throne, and who has made me a house as he promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death today.”
25King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died. 26To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the Lord Yahweh’s ark before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted.” 27So Solomon thrust Abiathar out from being priest to Yahweh, that he might fulfill Yahweh’s word, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v25 Or, fell upon him.
Or, fell upon him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv23–25 1Ki 2:23 Then king Solomon sware by the LORD,…
1Ki 2:23 Then king Solomon sware by the LORD, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life.
Ver. 23. And Solomon sware.] That his mother, seeing him so resolute, might no more solicit.
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 On vv23–25 Sware by the Lord; once here, and again, 1Ki…
Sware by the Lord; once here, and again, 1Ki 2:24; which he did to oblige himself irrevocably to it, and to prevent all intercessions for his life, it being of so great importance to him.
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 On vv23–25 Now therefore, as the Lord liveth,.... Which is another…
Now therefore, as the Lord liveth,.... Which is another oath; and one may easily perceive hereby in what a temper and disposition Solomon was, how warm, earnest, and vehement, how resolute against the petition, and how determined he was to punish Adonijah and his confederates:
which hath established me, and set me upon the throne of David my father, and who hath made me an house, as he promised; who had placed him on his father's throne, and established him there, in spite of all his enemies, and had given him a firm and stable kingdom, which was not to be shaken and subverted by the power and policy of conspirators, according to the promise of God by Nathan, Sa2 7:11;
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Adonijah shall be put to death this day; both for his former conspiracy, he only having had a reprieve, and which was to continue on his good behaviour, Kg1 1:51, and for his fresh attempt in forming treasonable schemes to ascend the throne if possible; wherefore, being a dangerous man, and no longer to be trusted, Solomon was determined to dispatch him at once, and being established in his kingdom, he had nothing to fear from those in the conspiracy with him.
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 On v25 Benaiah - For the execution of justice was not…
Benaiah - For the execution of justice was not then committed to obscure persons, as now it is; but to persons of great honour and authority. It is far from clear, that Solomon did right herein, or that Adonijah had any ill design in asking Abishag.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v25 Verse 25. Solomon sent - Benaiah - and he…
Verse 25. Solomon sent - Benaiah - and he fell upon him that he died.] Benaiah seems to have been the public state executioner, and yet he was generalissimo of all the forces. See him employed in a similar work, 1Kg 2:34; 1Kg 2:46. I suppose him to have been such another general as Suwarrow, butcher-general of the Turks and Poles to the late Empress Catharine of Russia: like mistress, like man. But they have long since been called to an impartial tribunal.
That this was an act of cruelty towards Adonijah, needs no proof. He is suspected, condemned, and slain, without a hearing. Calmet vindicates all this by various assumptions, and lays down a doctrine that is calculated for the meridian of Fez or Morocco; hear him: Un prince, dans ses jugemens, ne peut pas toujours suivre les regles de la plus parfaite morale; la politique, et le bien de l'etat, obligent souvent a des choses opposees aux conseils de l'evangile; "A prince in his judgments cannot always follow the rules of the most perfect morality; policy and the good of the state often require things to be done which are contrary to the counsels of the Gospel." What a diabolic maxim is this! And is this indeed the way that French kings ruled and ministers decreed judgment? Then we need not wonder at a revolution in that state, nor of the scourge that desolated the land. O England! magnify God for your constitution, your constitutional king, and the laws according to which he reigns.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv23–25 1Ki 2:23. Then King Solomon sware by the Lord…
1Ki 2:23. Then King Solomon sware by the Lord — Once here, and again 1Ki 2:24, which he did to oblige himself irrevocably to perform his resolution, and to prevent all intercession for Adonijah’s life, the matter being, he believed, of the greatest importance to him.
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 On vv23–24 Against his own life - Adonijah had forfeited his…
Against his own life - Adonijah had forfeited his life by his former conduct, and his pardon had been merely conditional 1Ki 1:52.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv24–25 House. This generally denotes children, and Roboam was born…
House. This generally denotes children, and Roboam was born this year. Some have considered his birth as miraculous, supposing that Solomon was not above 12 years old, ver. 9. (St. Jerome, Ep. ad Vital.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v23 God do so to me, and more also--the common…
God do so to me, and more also--the common form of introducing a solemn oath.
if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life--Whether there was a treasonable design to conceal under this request or not, the act, according to Eastern notions, was criminal, and of dangerous consequence to the state. There is no ground of censure upon Solomon for cruelty or precipitation in this instance. He had pardoned Adonijah's former conspiracy; but this new attempt was rebellion against the viceroy appointed by the divine King and called for condign punishment. The office of executioner was among the Hebrews, as in other ancient countries of the East, performed unceremoniously and privately--often without any previous warning--by the captain of the guard, or one of his officers (Mat 14:10).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v24 24. Adonijah shall be put to death this day…
24. Adonijah shall be put to death this day — To the charge of those interpreters who condemn this vigorous severity of Solomon as a needless act of cruelty, the following words of Keil are an excellent and all-sufficient reply: “All attack or censure depends on un-biblical views of law and right, and on a complete misunderstanding of the theocratic point of view, according to which alone the question can be decided. By the attempt to usurp the throne Adonijah had already rebelled against Jehovah, who had appointed Solomon as the successor of David. Now if, after Solomon had forgiven his transgression, he comes out with a new attempt at rebellion, duty to God and the theocracy demanded of Solomon not to have respect to consanguinity, but to act according to the rigour of the law.”
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 On vv23–25 23. God do so to me, and more also]…
23. God do so to me, and more also] This is a very idiomatic rendering for the Hebrew, which is literally ‘Thus shall God do to me, and thus shall He add.’ The expression occurs again in 1Ki_19:2, 1Ki_20:10, and in 2Ki_6:31 as well as several times in the books of Samuel, and in Rth_1:17.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv23–25 (23) God do so to me, and more also.—See…
(23) God do so to me, and more also.—See Rth_1:17; 1Sa_3:17; 1Sa_14:44; 1Sa_20:13; 1Sa_25:22, 2Sa_11:14, &c. This well-known formula of imprecation—which the LXX. renders, “May God do these things to me and add these things also “—was probably accompanied with some gesture signifying utter destruction.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv23–25 Then king Solomon sware by the Lord, saying, God…
Then king Solomon sware by the Lord, saying, God do so to me, and more also a common form of adjuration (Rth_1:17; 1Sa_14:44 1Sa_20:13; = 2Sa_3:9 2Sa_19:13, etc.) Gott soil mich fort und fort strafen. Bahr, if or "that." yKi constantly follows formulae of swearing, as in all the passages just cited. Cf. the use of oti in New Testament. The order of the next words in the Hebrew is noticeable against his life spake Adonijah this word. wvpnB, "at the peril or cost of his life." (Cf. 2Sa_23:17; Jos_23:11)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v24 General Information:
General Information:
King Solomon executes Adonijah.
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set me on the throne
The word "throne" refers to Solomon's authority to rule that was given by Yahweh. (See: Metonymy)
who has made me a house
Here "house" refers to descendants that Yahweh gave to King Solomon, who would continue to reign after him. (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
throne
David
ancestor
house
promise
die
Solomon
Benaiah
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.