1 Kings 1:22

And, lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:11-31 Observe Nathan's address to Bathsheba. Let me give thee counsel how to save thy own life, and the life of thy son. Such as this is the counsel Christ's ministers give us in his name, to give all diligence, not only that no man take our crown, Re 3:11, but that we save our lives, even the lives of our souls. David made a solemn declaration of his firm cleaving to his former resolution, that Solomon should be his successor. Even the recollection of the distresses from which the Lord redeemed him, increased his comfort, inspired his hopes, and animated him to his duty, under the decays of nature and the approach of death.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Nathan came into the palace, not into the chamber, where he might not enter unannounced. Bath-sheba retired before Nathan entered, in accordance with Oriental ideas of propriety. So, when Bath-sheba was again sent for 1 Kings 1:28, Nathan retired (compare 1 Kings 1:32).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. I and my son … shall be counted offenders—that is, slain, according to the barbarous usage of the East towards all who are rivals to the throne.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

To discourse with the king; which made it fit for her to withdraw, as she did, 1 Kings 1:28.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And, lo, while she yet talked with the king,.... Just as she was concluding her speech to him:

Nathan the prophet also came in; as he promised he would; perhaps was at the chamber door all the while Bathsheba was speaking, and when he perceived she was just finishing, he entered in without ceremony, as he had used to do, being the king's seer and counsellor, and a prophet, who had admittance to the king at any time.

Geneva Study Bible

And, lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22–27. Nathan confirms the statements of Bath-sheba (Not in Chronicles)

22. Nathan the prophet also came in] Apparently at first into an outer room, whence he was announced to king David, and Bath-sheba went out before his coming into the bedchamber. She was clearly not present during Nathan’s address to the king. See 1 Kings 1:28.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 22. - And lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in. [Hebrews cam, i.e., to the palace. "Came in" almost implies that he entered the room, which he did not till summoned (ver. 23). Observe, Nathan's words convey no suggestio falsi. He does not deny a previous interview with Bathsheba, nor does he confess it. If there is an appearance of artifice, there was no intention to deceive. And the artifice, such as it was, was not only harmless, but for the public good. Verse 22. - And they told the king, saying, Behold Nathan the prophet [we are scarcely justified in seeing in this "solemn announcement of his approach" an "indication of the consideration in which he was held" (Stanley). It is difficult to see how otherwise he could be announced. It is clear that he was constantly spoken of as "the prophet" (vers. 10, 22, 34, 38, etc. Cf. 2 Samuel 7:2; 2 Samuel 12:25]. And when he was come in before [Hebrews and he came before - three words instead of six] the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground [see on vers. 16, 20; and cf. ver. 31, where we have a similar expression. "In the Assyrian sculptures, ambassadors are represented with their faces actually touching the earth before the feet of the monarch" (Rawlinson). This profound reverence on the part of Nathan is the more remarkable, when we remember how he had once denounced David to his face (1 Samuel 12:7)]. 1 Kings 1:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

While Bathsheba was still speaking, Nathan came. When he was announced to the king, Bathsheba retired, just as afterwards Nathan went away when the king had Bathsheba called in again (cf. 1 Kings 1:28 with 1 Kings 1:32). This was done, not to avoid the appearance of a mutual arrangement (Cler., Then., etc.), but for reasons of propriety, inasmuch as, in audiences granted by the king to his wife or one of his counsellors, no third person ought to be present unless the king required his attendance. Nathan confirmed Bathsheba's statement, commencing thus: "My lord king, thou hast really said, Adonijah shall be king after me...? for he has gone down to-day, and has prepared a feast, ... and they are eating and drinking before him, and saying, Long live king Adonijah!" And he then closed by asking, "Has this taken place on the part of my lord the king, and thou hast not shown thy servants (Nathan, Zadok, Benaiah, and Solomon) who is to sit upon the throne of my lord the king after him?" The indirect question introduced with אם is not merely an expression of modesty, but also of doubt, whether what had occurred had emanated from the king and he had not shown it to his servants.