1 Kings 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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(23) God do so to me, and more also.—See Ruth 1:17; 1Samuel 3:17; 1Samuel 14:44; 1Samuel 20:13; 1Samuel 25:22, 2Samuel 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.

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 2:23. Then King Solomon sware by the Lord — Once here, and again 1 Kings 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.

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

Against his own life - Adonijah had forfeited his life by his former conduct, and his pardon had been merely conditional 1 Kings 1:52.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23-25. 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 (Mt 14:10).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Sware by the Lord; once here, and again, 1 Kings 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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then King Solomon sware by the Lord,.... To prevent his mother pressing him to have her petition granted:

saying, God do so to me, and more also; lay such and such evils upon me, and more than I care to express:

if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life; to his own prejudice, and even to the loss of his life; in which Solomon suggests it would issue, being a fresh overt act of treason; he knew, from what Bathsheba said, that this was his petition, and that he had spoken of this to her, and put her upon making it for him; and who no doubt related to Solomon the whole of the conversation that passed between them, and to which he seems to have some respect in his answer.

Geneva Study Bible

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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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 1 Kings 19:2, 1 Kings 20:10, and in 2 Kings 6:31 as well as several times in the books of Samuel, and in Ruth 1:17.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 23. - Then king Solomon sware by the Lord, saying, God do so to me, and more also [a common form of adjuration (Ruth 1:17; 1 Samuel 14:44; 1 Samuel 20:13; 2 Samuel 3:9; 2 Samuel 19:13, etc.) = Gott soil mich fort und fort strafen. Bahr], if [or "that." כִּי constantly follows formulae of swearing, as in all the passages just cited. Cf. the use of ὅτι in New Testament. The order of the next words in the Hebrew is noticeable] against his life spake Adonijah this word. [בְּנַפְשׁו, "at the peril or cost of his life." Cf. 2 Samuel 23:17; Joshua 23:11.] 1 Kings 2:23

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Solomon thereupon solemnly swore (the formula of an oath, and the כּי introducing the oath, as in 1 Samuel 14:44, etc.), "Adonijah has spoken this word against his own life." בּנפשׁו, at the cost of his life, as in 2 Samuel 23:17, i.e., at the hazard of his life, or to his destruction. 2 Samuel 23:24. "And now, as truly as Jehovah liveth, who hath established me and set me on the throne of my father David, and hath made me a house, as He said (verbatim, 2 Samuel 7:11): yea, to-day shall Adonijah be put to death." Jehovah established Solomon, or founded him firmly, by raising him to the throne in spite of Adonijah's usurpation. In ויושׁיביני the central י has got into the text through a copyist's error. בּית לי עשׂה, i.e., He has bestowed upon me a family or posterity. Solomon had already one son, viz., Rehoboam, about a year old (compare 1 Kings 11:42 with 1 Kings 14:21 and 2 Chronicles 12:13).

(Note: When Thenius denies this, and maintains that Rehoboam cannot have been 41 years old when he began to reign, referring to his discussion at 1 Kings 14:21, he answers himself, inasmuch as at 1 Kings 14:21 he demonstrates the fallacy of the objections which Cappellus has raised against the correctness of the reading "41 years.")