1 Kings 1:1

David's Last Days

1 Now King David was old and getting on in years. Although they covered him with bedclothes, he could not get warm.

1 Kings 1:1 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 1:1

Now King David was old, [and] stricken in years
Was seventy years of age; for he was thirty years of age when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years, ( 2 Samuel 5:4 ) ; this was just the age of man, ( Psalms 90:10 ) ;

and they covered him with clothes;
not wearing apparel, but bed clothes; he seems to have been bedridden and paralytic:

but he got no heat;
by them; having no natural heat in him, clothes could not communicate any to him, only keep the cold from him, see ( Haggai 1:6 ) ; there are many persons at the age he was, that are lively, healthful, and robust, comparatively speaking at least; but David's strength was impaired, and his natural force abated by his many wars, fatigues by night and day in campaigns, and the many sorrows and afflictions he met with from his family and his friends, as well as enemies; which exhausted his natural moisture, weakened his nerves, and drank up his spirits, and brought upon him the infirmities of a decrepit old age very soon.

1 Kings 1:1 In-Context

1 Now King David was old and getting on in years. Although they covered him with bedclothes, he could not get warm.

2 So his servants said to him: "Let us search for a young virgin for my lord the king. She is to attend the king and be his caregiver. She is to lie by your side so that my lord the king will get warm."

3 They searched for a beautiful girl throughout the territory of Israel; they found Abishag the Shunammite and brought her to the king.

4 The girl was of unsurpassed beauty, and she became the king's caregiver. She served him, but he was not intimate with her.

5 Adonijah son of Haggith kept exalting himself, saying, "I will be king!" He also assembled chariots, cavalry, and 50 men to run ahead of him.