1 Kings 2:19

Bathsheba therefore went unto king Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 2:19. The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself — For the high dignity to which he was advanced, did not make him forget the honour due to a parent: an amiable example this, to teach all children to continue to show respect to their parents, how much soever they may be advanced above them in wealth, dignity, or honour. She sat on his right hand — The most honourable place, next to the king.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:12-25 Solomon received Bathsheba with all the respect that was owing to a mother; but let none be asked for that which they ought not to grant. It ill becomes a good man to prefer a bad request, or to appear in a bad cause. According to eastern customs it was plain that Adonijah sought to be king, by his asking for Abishag as his wife, and Solomon could not be safe while he lived. Ambitious, turbulent spirits commonly prepare death for themselves. Many a head has been lost by catching at a crown.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A seat - Or, "a throne." We have here a proof of the high dignity of the Queen-mother. Compare also 1 Kings 15:13; 2 Kings 11:1-3. In the Persian court the Queen-mother had often the chief power.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19, 20. Bath-sheba … went unto King Solomon—The filial reverence and the particular act of respect, which Solomon rendered, were quite in accordance with the sentiments and customs of the East. The right hand is the place of honor; and as it expressly said to have been assigned to "the king's mother," it is necessary to remark that, when a husband dies, his widow acquires a higher dignity and power, as a mother over her son, than she ever possessed before. Besides, the dignity of "king's mother" is a state office, to which certain revenues are attached. The holder has a separate palace or court, as well as possesses great influence in public affairs; and as the dignity is held for life, it sometimes happens, in consequence of deaths, that the person enjoying it may not be related to the reigning sovereign by natural maternity. Bath-sheba had evidently been invested with this honorable office.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The most honourable place next to the king’s. See 2 Chronicles 18:18 Nehemiah 8:4 Psalm 45:9 Matthew 20:21.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Bathsheba therefore went unto King Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah,.... She went from her own house to the palace; for she might not live at court; or however had an apartment to herself, from whence she went to the king with her suit in favour of Adonijah:

and the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her; upon her entrance into the presence chamber, in honour to her as a parent, he rose up from his throne, and made his obeisance to her, as a dutiful son:

and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother; a magnificent seat or throne, as the word is, was ordered to be set for her:

and she sat on his right hand; where he placed her in honour to her as his mother; so Nero (a) placed Tiridates king of Armenia at his right hand, to do him honour.

(a) Suetonius in Vit. Neron. c. 13.

Geneva Study Bible

Bathsheba therefore went unto king Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and {k} bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand.

(k) In token of reverence, and that others by his example might have her in greater honour.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. caused a seat to be set for the king’s mother] For ‘seat’ we should have throne. The word is the same as that which occurs earlier in the verse for Solomon’s own ‘throne.’ In Eastern nations the queen-mother was a very important personage and treated with the same sort of reverence as the king. This we may see in the case of Maachah (1 Kings 15:13) who held authority and was called queen, even during the reign of her grandson Asa. Compare also the influential position of Athaliah, which enabled her to destroy nearly all the seedroyal (2 Kings 11:1).

and she sat on his right hand] This being the place of greatest honour, cf. Psalm 45:9.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - Bathsheba therefore [lit., And Bathsheba] went unto king [Heb. the king] Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, [the LXX. reads, "and kissed" her (καὶ κατεφίλησεν αὐτὴν). There is not necessarily a pregnant construction, as Keil insists: "rose up and went down to meet her." We get here a glimpse of the stateliness of Solomon's court] and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat [lit., throne, same word] to be set [most probably the servants of Solomon placed the seat for the queen mother, as the LXX. (ἐτέθη θρόνος) and most translators. The reception was clearly a public one, if the interview was private. But the original is simply, "and he set," etc., suggesting that Solomon may have done it, as a mark of respect, with his own hands. He "received his mother as גְַּבִירָה (1 Kings 15:13). Bahr] for the mother of the king, and she sat on his right hand. [The place of honour. Cf. Psalm 110:1; Matthew 20:21; Matthew 25:33; Acts 7:56; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1, etc. It was also the place of honour amongst Arabians (Keil), Greeks, and Romans, as the very names εὐώνυμος ( an euphemism for ἀριστερός - and sinistra, show. 1 Kings 2:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

When Bathsheba came to Solomon, he received her with the reverence due to the queen-mother: "he rose up to meet her" (a pregnant expression for "he rose up and went to meet her"), made a low bow, then sat upon his throne again, and bade her sit upon a throne at his right hand. The seat at the right hand of the king was the place of honour among the Israelites (cf. Psalm 110:1), also with the ancient Arabian kings (cf. Eichhorn, Monumenta Antiq. Hist. Arab. p. 220), as well as among the Greeks and Romans.