1 Kings 1:1

David’s Last Days

1 Now King David had become old, {advanced in years},^[a] and they covered him with garments, but he was not 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 had become old, {advanced in years}, and they covered him with garments, but he was not warm.

2 His servants said to him, "Let them search for a young virgin for my lord the king, and let her stand before the king. Let her be of use for him, and let her lie in your lap that my lord the king may be warm."

3 So they sought a beautiful young woman in all the territory of Israel, and they found Abishag the Shunnamite and brought her to the king.

4 Now the young woman was very beautiful; she was of use for the king, and she served him, but the king did not {have sexual relations with her}.

5 Now Adonijah the son of Haggith was exalting himself, saying, "I will be king," so he prepared for himself a chariot and horsemen and fifty men running before him.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "he went in the days"