2 Samuel 19:34

34 And Barzillai saith unto the king, `How many [are] the days of the years of my life, that I 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 [is] very aged, a son of eighty years, and he hath sustained the king in his abiding in Mahanaim, for he [is] a very great man;

33 and the king saith unto Barzillai, `Pass thou over with me, and I have sustained thee with me in Jerusalem.'

34 And Barzillai saith unto the king, `How many [are] the days of the years of my life, that I go up with the king to Jerusalem?

35 A son of eighty years I [am] to-day; do I know between good and evil? doth thy servant taste that which I am eating, and that which I drink? do I hearken any more to the voice of singers and songstresses? and why is thy servant any more for a burden unto my lord the king?

36 As a little thing, thy servant doth pass over the Jordan with the king, and why doth the king recompense me this recompense?