1 Kings 2:10

So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) Buried in the city of David—that is, evidently in Mount Sion. In Nehemiah 3:16 the “sepulchres of David” are noticed, and they are plainly alluded to in Ezekiel 43:7; Ezekiel 43:9. They became the regular tombs of the kings, with some exceptions particularly noticed. It was in token of special honour that the high priest Jehoiada, the preserver of the royal dynasty, was buried therein (See 2Chronicles 24:16).

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 2:10-11. So David slept with his fathers — He died with the satisfaction of seeing his own son his successor, the wisest and the hopefulest prince of the whole earth, and with the assurance of God’s peculiar favour to his posterity, from whence he had already, in the clearest light of prophetic vision, seen the Messiah, the Lord of life, to arise; of whose dominion, and the increase of his government and glory, he well knew, by the Spirit of God upon him, there would be no end. And was buried in the city of David — In that part of Jerusalem which was called by his name, because he took it from the Jebusites. Seven years reigned he in Hebron — More precisely, seven years and six months; (2 Samuel 5:5;) but smaller numbers are often omitted in Scripture computations, and only the larger noticed.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:5-11 These dying counsels concerning Joab and Shimei, did not come from personal anger, but for the security of Solomon's throne, which was the murders he had committed, but would readily repeat them to carry any purpose; though long reprieved, he shall be reckoned with at last. Time does not wear out the guilt of any sin, particularly of murder. Concerning Shimei, Hold him not guiltless; do not think him any true friend to thee, or thy government, or fit to be trusted; he has no less malice now than he had then. David's dying sentiments are recorded, as delivered under the influence of the Holy Ghost,

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hold him not guiltless - i. e. "Do not treat him as an innocent man. Punish him as in thy wisdom thou deemest best. Not capitally at once; but so that he may be likely to give thee in course of time a just occasion to slay him." So, at least, Solomon seems to have understood the charge. (See 1 Kings 2:36-46.)

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. So David slept with his fathers—about six months after the coronation of Solomon (compare 2Sa 5:5 with 1Ch 29:27). The interval was spent in developing his ideas and plans for the future glory of the kingdom and providing for the permanent worship of God (see on [290]1Ch 22:1, and following).

was buried in the city of David—Sepulchres were not allowed within the precincts of cities. Jerusalem, however, formed an exception; and yet, even there, the privilege was reserved chiefly for the royal family (Ac 2:29). Tradition says that the bones of David repose on Mount Zion, and the minaret of a small mosque points out the spot which tradition has fixed. His was a noble, a wondrous, and a humbling history. He was a good man, yet his life was deformed by various crimes of a very gross character. But there were many bright and noble traits in his character; he was an earnest lover of the divine law; his reign was signalized by many important services that contributed to the glory of God and the exaltation of His kingdom; and his name, as the sweet Psalmist of Israel, will be held in honor to the latest age of the Church.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Slept with his fathers;

See Poole "1 Kings 1:21", See Poole "Deu 31:16".

In the city of David, i.e. in that part of Jerusalem which was called by his name, because he took it from the Jebusites. See 2 Samuel 5:7 1 Chronicles 11:5 2 Chronicles 5:2.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So David slept with his fathers,.... Died as his ancestors before him did; for, buried with them he was not; and therefore cannot be understood of his lying with them in the grave, but in the state of the dead; he died according as the Jews say (q) on the day of Pentecost, and according to Bishop Usher (r) A. M. 2990, and before Christ 1014;

and was buried in the city of David; not at Bethlehem, in the sepulchre of Jesse, who was a private man; but being a king, in his own city, the hold of Zion he took from the Jebusite, and which afterwards was called by his name, 2 Samuel 5:7; and his sepulchre remained unto the times of the apostles, upwards of a thousand years; see Gill on Acts 2:29.

(q) T. Hieros. Chagigah, fol. 78. 1.((r) Anuals, &c. p. 56.

Geneva Study Bible

So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. in the city of David] The place is defined (2 Samuel 5:7) as ‘the stronghold of Zion.’ We are told (Aboth de-Rabbi Nathan i. 35) that ‘no graves are made in Jerusalem, except the tombs of the house of David, and of Huldah the prophetess, which have been there from the days of the first prophets.’ Josephus (Ant. vii. 15. 3) gives an account of the wealth that Solomon deposited in his father’s grave, and states that the tomb was afterwards opened and some of this wealth carried away, first by Hyrcanus the high priest, when he was besieged by Antiochus, and a second time by Herod the Great. But the chambers in which the treasure was buried could be reached without disturbing the royal burying-place.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - So [Heb. and] David slept [Heb. lay down]. The idea of ָשכַב is not that of sleep so much as of the recumbent posture of the dead. It points to the grave rather than to Sheol (Gesen.), though the latter idea is not excluded. Wordsworth (after a Lapide) finds here "an assertion of the doctrine of the existence of the soul after death, and of the resurrection of the body," but it is not in the text] with his fathers (cf. the Latin expression abiit ad plures, and the Greek ἐς πλεόνων ἱκέσθαι], and was buried in the city of David [i.e. the hill of Zion, which he had fortified, His citadel became his sepulchre, and thenceforward bore his name. Intramural interment was permitted only to prophets and kings. Jerusalem is completely under. mined by caves and caverns, and Zion is no exception to the rule. One of these, possibly enlarged, probably became the burying place of the kings. It was known, not only in Nehemiah's day (Nehemiah 3:15, 16), but down to the age of the apostles (Acts 2:29). Probably owing to a misunderstanding of St. Peter's words, "his sepulchre is with us," etc., the Coenaculum is now shown as David's tomb. Josephus says Solomon placed a vast quantity of treasure with the body, three thousand talents of which were taken out by Hyrcanus (Ant. 13:08.4). He has also a curious story of an attempted plunder of the tomb by Herod (Ant. 16:07.1) 1 Kings 2:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

After these instructions David died, and was buried in the city of David, i.e., upon Mount Zion, where the sepulchre of David still existed in the time of Christ (Acts 2:29).

(Note: The situation of the tombs of the kings of Judah upon Zion, Thenius has attempted to trace minutely in a separate article in Illgen's Zeitschrift fr die histor. Theol. 1844, i. p. 1ff., and more especially to show that the entrance to these tombs must have been on the eastern slope of Mount Zion, which falls into the valley of Tyropoeon, and obliquely opposite to the spring of Siloah. This is in harmony with the statement of Theodoret (quaest. 6 in iii. Reg.), to the effect that Josephus says, τὸ δὲ μνῆμα (τῆς ταφῆς) παρὰ τὴν Σιλοὰμ εἶναι ἀντροειδὲς ἔχον τὸ σχῆμα, καὶ τῆν βασιλικὴν δηλοῦν πολυτέλειαν; although this statement does not occur in any passage of his works as they have come down to us.)

On the length of his reign see 2 Samuel 5:5.