1 Kings 1:31

Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live for ever.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 1:31. Let my lord King David live for ever — Though I desire thy oath may be kept, and the right of succession confirmed to my son, yet I am far from thirsting after thy death, and should rather rejoice, if it were possible, for thee to live and enjoy thy crown for ever. There could be no higher expression of love and thankfulness, than to desire never to see Solomon on the throne, if it were possible for David always to enjoy it.

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

A lower and humbler obeisance than before 1 Kings 1:16. In the Assyrian sculptures ambassadors are represented with their faces actually touching the earth before the feet of the monarch.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

28-31. Then king David answered and said, Call me Bath-sheba—He renews to her the solemn pledge he had given, in terms of solemnity and impressiveness which show that the aged monarch had roused himself to the duty the emergency called for.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

i.e. For a long time, as that word is oft used, as 1 Kings 2:33 Daniel 2:4. Though I desire thy oath may be kept, and the right of succession confirmed to my son; yet I am far from thirsting after thy death for his advancement, and should rather rejoice, if it were possible for thee to live and enjoy thy crown for ever.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the king,.... Thereby expressing her veneration of him, and thankfulness to him for his favour to her and her son, in fulfilling his promise and oath:

and said, let my lord King David live for ever; which though a common form of salutation of kings, not only in Israel, but in other nations, is not to be considered as a mere compliment, but as expressing the real desires and affection of her heart to the king; signifying hereby that her solicitations on the behalf of her son did not arise from any desire of the king's death; she heartily wished him health to live long and easy; and all her request was, that Solomon her son might succeed him, whenever it pleased God to remove him; or seeing he was now a dying man as it were, her prayer was that his soul might live for ever in happiness in the world to come; so Kimchi interprets it.

Geneva Study Bible

Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live for ever.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

31. Let my lord king David live for ever] On this common Oriental hyperbole, compare Daniel 2:4; Daniel 3:9; Daniel 5:10, &c. It was the common Eastern formula. Bath-sheba implied thereby that in her zeal for Solomon’s succession there was no desire for David’s death but only that the promise made to her concerning Solomon should not be broken.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 31. - Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the king [see on vers. 16, 23], and said, Let my lord king David live forever. [This hyperbolical expression is here only used of a Hebrew monarch. It was constantly addressed to the Babylonian and Persian kings. See Daniel 2:4; Daniel 3:9; Daniel 5:10; Daniel 6:21; Nehemiah 2:3. 1 Kings 1:31

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Bathsheba then left the king with the deepest prostration and the utterance of a blessing, as an expression of her inmost gratitude. The benedictory formula, "May the king live for ever," was only used by the Israelites on occasions of special importance; whereas the Babylonians and ancient Persians constantly addressed their kings in this way (cf. Daniel 2:4; Daniel 3:9; Daniel 5:10; Daniel 6:22; Nehemiah 2:3. Aeliani var. hist. i. 32, and Curtius de gestis Alex. vi. 5).