1 Kings 2:16

And now I ask one petition of thee, deny me not. And she said unto him, Say on.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:12-25 Solomon received Bathsheba with all the respect that was owing to a mother; but let none be asked for that which they ought not to grant. It ill becomes a good man to prefer a bad request, or to appear in a bad cause. According to eastern customs it was plain that Adonijah sought to be king, by his asking for Abishag as his wife, and Solomon could not be safe while he lived. Ambitious, turbulent spirits commonly prepare death for themselves. Many a head has been lost by catching at a crown.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Deny me not - literally, as in the margin, i. e. "make me not to hide my face through shame at being refused."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13-18. Adonijah … came to Bath-sheba—Her question to him betrays an apprehension which his recent conduct might well warrant; but his pious acknowledgment of the divine will seemed apparently to indicate so entire an acquiescence in the settlement of the succession [1Ki 2:15], that, in her womanly simplicity, she perceived not the deep cunning and evil design that was concealed under his request and readily undertook to promote his wishes.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Deny me not, Heb. do not turn away my face, i.e. do not send me out of thy presence sad or ashamed. Compare 2 Chronicles 6:42 Psalm 132:10.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And now I ask one petition of thee,.... And but one, and a small one too, as Bathsheba herself after calls it:

deny me not, or "turn not away my face" (t); with shame and sorrow, which would be the case should he be denied:

and she said unto him, say on; let me hear it.

(t) "ne avertere facias faciem meam", Pagninus.

Geneva Study Bible

And now I ask one petition of thee, deny me not. And she said unto him, Say on.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. deny me not] The Hebrew is ‘turn not away my face,’ and implies that a person whose suit is refused is turned away in disgrace. The same expression is rendered ‘to say not nay’ in 1 Kings 2:17; 1 Kings 2:20. Adonijah’s argument was to this effect: ‘You know I have lost a great deal, surely you will not refuse me this slight request.’

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - And now I ask one petition of thee [Heb. request one request] deny me not [marg., "turn not away my face." Better, Turn not back, i.e., repulse not. Rawlinson paraphrases, "Make me not to hide my face through shame at being refused;" but this is not the idea of the original, which means, Reject me not; send me not away. In the Heb. "face" often stands for "person," for eyes (ver. 15), looks, mien]. And she said unto him, Say on. 1 Kings 2:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Adonijah forfeits his life. - 1 Kings 2:13-18. Adonijah came to Bathsheba with the request that she would apply to king Solomon to give him Abishag of Shunem as his wife. Bathsheba asked him, "Is peace thy coming?" i.e., comest thou with a peaceable intention? (as in 1 Samuel 16:4), because after what had occurred (1 Kings 1:5.) she suspected an evil intention. He introduced his petition with these words: "Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and all Israel had set its face upon me that I should be king, then the kingdom turned about and became my brother's; for it became his from the Lord." The throne was his, not because he had usurped it, but because it belonged to him as the eldest son at that time, according to the right of primogeniture. Moreover it might have been the case that many of the people wished him to be king, and the fact that he had found adherents in Joab, Abiathar, and others, confirms this; but his assertion, that all Israel had set its eyes upon him as the future king, went beyond the bounds of truth. At the same time, he knew how to cover over the dangerous sentiment implied in his words in a very skilful manner by adding the further remark, that the transfer of the kingdom to his brother had come from Jehovah; so that Bathsheba did not detect the artifice, and promised to fulfil his request (1 Kings 2:16.) to intercede with king Solomon for Abishag to be given him to wife. את־פּני אל־תּשׁבי, "do not turn back my face," i.e., do not refuse my request.