1 Kings 1:24

And Nathan said, My lord, O king, hast thou said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) Hast thou said.—The question here and in 1Kings 1:27 is, of course, merely intended to draw out denial; but it is singularly true to nature that it does so by the assumption (natural in court language) that nothing of such a kind could be even conceived as done without the king’s will. There is something striking in the contrast of the deference of Nathan as a counsellor on state business with the bold superiority of his tone in the discharge of his true prophetic office (as in 2Samuel 7:2-17; 2Samuel 12:1-14).

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

Hast thou said - Thou hast said. In the original no question is asked. Nathan assumes, as far as words go, that the king has made this declaration. He wishes to draw forth a disclaimer.

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

Is this done by thy consent? without which it seems strange that he durst attempt it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Nathan said, my lord, O king,.... He addresses him as with great veneration and respect due to his office, so as if he knew noticing of Bathsheba's application to him; and therefore begins and tells his story, as if the king had never heard anything relative to it:

hast thou said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? surely it can never be, because of the notice which he himself had given him from the Lord, that one to be born should succeed him, plainly pointing to Solomon; and also because of the oath which he had sworn, to which Nathan was privy, that Solomon should reign after him; and yet if he had not given such orders, it was exceeding strange that Adonijah should presume to do what he had done.

Geneva Study Bible

And Nathan said, My lord, O king, hast thou said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. hast thou said] There is nothing in the Hebrew to mark the question. It must have been indicated by the tone. It would come with much force from Nathan, as he knew all the circumstances of God’s promise that Solomon should be king after David. He shews by his language in 1 Kings 1:27 that any change in the plans for the succession should not have been made without his knowledge. After the divine messages which had been sent to the king through Nathan, the prophet’s relation to David was different from that of other subjects.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - And Nathan said, My Lord, O king, hast thou said [the Hebrews has no question, but a strong affirmation: "thou hast said," i.e., "thou must have said (Du hast wohl gesagt." Bahr). Nathan puts it thus forcibly, in order to draw from the king a disclaimer], Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? [Same words as in vers. 13, 17, and possibly designedly so. The coincidence conveys the meaning, "Thou hast sworn Solomon shall reign," etc. "Thou hast said, Adonijah shall reign," etc.] 1 Kings 1:24

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.