2 Samuel 19:34

34 And Barzillai said to the king, How many are the days of the years of my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?

2 Samuel 19:34 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 19:34

And Barzillai said unto the king
In answer to the grateful proposal he made:

how long have I to live;
that could not be said with exactness by any; but it might be probably conjectured from the age he was of, and the infirmities that attended him, that he could not live long; it was but a short time he had to be in the world:

that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?
take so long a journey as that, seeing he might die before he got thither; and if he did not, since it could not be thought he should live long, he could not think of it, or judge it advisable at such an age to take such a journey, change his place of abode, and manner of living.

2 Samuel 19:34 In-Context

32 And Barzillai was very aged, eighty years old; and it was he that had maintained the king while he abode at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man.

33 And the king said to Barzillai, Pass thou over with me, and I will maintain thee with me in Jerusalem.

34 And Barzillai said to the king, How many are the days of the years of my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?

35 I am this day eighty years old: can I discern between good and bad? can thy servant taste what I eat and what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? and why should thy servant be yet a burden to my lord the king?

36 Thy servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king; and why should the king recompense it to me with this reward?