Kings I 1:4

4 And the day came, and Helkana sacrificed, and gave portions to his wife Phennana and her children.

Kings I 1:4 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 1:4

And the damsel [was] very fair
And so very agreeable to the king to be in his presence, and wait upon him, and take things of her hand, as well as lie with him:

and cherished the king;
enlivened his spirits by her amiable countenance, her graceful behaviour, and tender care of him, and especially by bedding with him:

and ministered to him;
serving him with her own hands whatever he took for his sustenance:

but the king knew her not;
as a man knows his wife; which shows that she was his wife, and that it would not have been criminal in him had he known her; but this is observed, not to point at the chastity of David, but his feebleness, and loss of desire after women, and that the damsel remained a virgin; and that was the ground of Adonijah's request, and his hope of succeeding.

Kings I 1:4 In-Context

2 And he two wives; the name of the one Anna, and the name of the second Phennana. And Phennana had children, but Anna had no child.

3 And the man went up from year to year from his city, from Armathaim, to worship and sacrifice to the Lord God of Sabaoth at Selom: and Heli and his two sons Ophni and Phinees, the priests of the Lord.

4 And the day came, and Helkana sacrificed, and gave portions to his wife Phennana and her children.

5 And to Anna he gave a prime portion, because she had no child, only Helkana loved Anna more than the other; but the Lord closed her womb.

6 For the Lord gave her no child in her affliction, and according to the despondency of her affliction; and she was dispirited on this account, that the Lord shut up her womb so as not to give her a child.

Footnotes

• [a] are not found in the Vatican Codex.
• [b] a corruption of ???? ?????.