(1) So when David was old and full of days.--Literally, Now David had become old and satisfied with days. (See Genesis 35:29; Job 42:17; where both terms, which are verbs here, appear as adjectives.) Perhaps our pointing is wrong. The expression "satisfied with days" reminds us of Horace, who describes the philosopher as departing this life like a satisfied guest (ut conviva satur, etc.).
He made Solomon his son king.--Heb., and he made, &c. This short statement is all that the chronicler has chosen to repeat from 1 Kings 1, a narrative intimately connected with David's family affairs, with which he is not concerned to deal. (Comp. 1 Chronicles 20, introductory remarks.)
Verse 1. - David... made Solomon his son king over Israel. These words give the key note of what remains in this book. David made his son king, as he himself acknowledges (1 Chronicles 28:5), under the superintending direction of God. The manner in which the formal event was precipitated by the conduct of Adonijah is found at length in 1 Kings 1:11-53. The original occasion alluded to there more than once, on which David promised, "and sware" to Bathsheba, that her son should be his chief heir and successor to the throne, is not distinctly recorded. We can easily assign one convenient place in the history for it to have found monition, viz. in 2 Samuel 12:25. The brevity of the statement which composes this verse, when compared with all the deeply interesting matter recorded in 1 Kings 1:11-53, is one among many other very clear illustrations of the purposed silence of our present history in certain directions.
23:1-23 David, having given charge concerning the building of the temple, settles the method of the temple service, and orders the officers of it. When those of the same family were employed together, it would engage them to love and assist one another.
So when David was old and full of days,.... Perhaps was now in the last year of his age, about seventy years old, though before he was bedridden; see 1 Chronicles 28:2,
he made Solomon his son king over Israel; declared him to be his successor; this was before the affair of Adonijah, for then he ordered him to be anointed king, and placed on the throne; and this aggravated the rebellion of Adonijah, that it was against the declared and known will of his father.
He made Solomon his son king.--Heb., and he made, &c. This short statement is all that the chronicler has chosen to repeat from 1 Kings 1, a narrative intimately connected with David's family affairs, with which he is not concerned to deal. (Comp. 1 Chronicles 20, introductory remarks.)
he made Solomon his son king over Israel; declared him to be his successor; this was before the affair of Adonijah, for then he ordered him to be anointed king, and placed on the throne; and this aggravated the rebellion of Adonijah, that it was against the declared and known will of his father.