1 Kings 1:4

And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 1:4. The king knew her not — Did not enjoy her as his wife, but she remained still a virgin: which is mentioned to signify the continuance and progress of the king’s malady.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:1-4 We have David sinking under infirmities. He was chastised for his recent sins, and felt the effects of his former toils and hardships.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Since the Jewish law allowed polygamy, David's conduct in following - what has been said to have been - physician's advice, was blameless.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. a Shunammite—Shunem, in the tribe of Issachar (Jos 19:18), lay on an eminence in the plain of Esdraelon, five miles south of Tabor. It is now called Sulam.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Which is mentioned to note the continuance and progress of the king’s malady, and the ground of Adonijah’s rebellion, and of his following request, 1 Kings 2:17.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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.

Geneva Study Bible

And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. cherished the king] Being always at hand to perform, as his nurse, such duties as the weak condition of king David needed.

knew her not] These words seem added to explain how it came to pass that Adonijah afterwards could ask her for his wife. (1 Kings 2:17.)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - And the damsel was very fair [lit. ,fair to exceeding] and cherished [see on ver. 2] the king, and ministered to him; but the king knew her not. [This is mentioned to explain the history of 1 Kings 2:13-25. Had it been otherwise, Adonijah could never have presumed to seek her in marriage, and Bathsheba would never have promised her help in his suit. Such an incestuous alliance would not only have been contrary to the law (Leviticus 18:8), but abhorrent to all true Israelites (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:1). In this fact, which the court knew, and which the nation at large did not know - they could only suppose that such a "search" for one so exceeding "fair" meant the increase of the seraglio - Adoni-jah found his point d'appui for a second attempt on the throne. The older expositors and some of the modern, notably Wordsworth, assume that Abishag was David's wife, in the sense of being legally married to him. (Corn. A Lap. discusses the question at considerable length, and with needless pruriency.) But this idea finds no support in Scripture, which represents her as simply an attendant. It is idle to remark, consequently, that "the Jewish law allowed polygamy" (Rawlinson). 1 Kings 1:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

They then looked about for a beautiful girl for this purpose, and found Abishag of Shunem, the present Sulem or Solam, at the south-eastern foot of the Duhy of Little Hermon (see at Joshua 19:18), who became the king's nurse and waited upon him. The further remark, "and the king knew her not," is not introduced either to indicate the impotence of David or to show that she did not become David's concubine, but simply to explain how it was that it could possibly occur to Adonijah (1 Kings 2:17) to ask for her as his wife. Moreover, the whole affair is to be judged according to the circumstances of the times, when there was nothing offensive in polygamy.