Friday 23 September 2016

Old man yet young in heart

King David was old man and to keep him warm they got him a young virgin girl?  Christians seems to have no problem with that !

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When King David was very old, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him. So his attendants said to him, "Let us look for a young virgin girl to serve the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm."
(1 kings 1:1-2)


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The Interpreter's Bible Nashville:Abingdon Press, 1954 notes that :
the Hebrews...believed that the fertility of the soil and the general prosperity of the people were bound up with the fertility of the king. David by this time was old and decrepit and his sexual vigor is called into question. Attempts are made to remedy the situation. The first cure is to heap clothes upon his bed in order to secure such physical heat as might render him capable. When this fails a search is made for the most beautiful woman in the land. Great emphasis is placed upon her [Abishag's] charms. The LXX supports this by translating in vs. 2, "and let her excite him and lie with him." The fact that the king did not have intercourse with her is decisive in the story. If David was impotent he could no longer be king

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David Guziks commentary 

a. King David was old, advanced in years: This was the twilight of a glorious reign. David was now so old that he could not even keep himself warm, much less rule the nation.

i. David was about 70 at this time. He seems even older than his years; but for David, it wasn’t just the years - it was the mileage. He seemed to live the lives of four or five men in his lifetime.

b. Let her lie in your bosom, that our Lord the king may be warm: This sounds strange - perhaps even immoral - to us, but this was proper of David to allow. This did not bring a moral cloud over the last days of David’s life.

i. It was proper because it was a recognized medical treatment in the ancient world, mentioned by the ancient Greek doctor Galen. When Josephus described this in his Antiquities of the Jews, he said that this was a medical treatment and he called the servants of 1 Kings 1:2 “physicians.”

ii. It was proper because David almost certainly made this young woman his concubine. While it was unwise for David to take more than one wife, it was not at that time illegal or specifically prohibited by God. Later, Adonijah would condemn himself to death by asking for Abishag as a wife. His request would only be so outrageous if Abishag had belonged to David as a concubine.

iii. Therefore they chose someone eligible for marriage or concubinage (a virgin), and a lovely young woman. “Whose beauty might engage his affections, and refresh his spirits, and invite him to those embraces which might communicate some of her natural heat to him, as was designed.” (Poole)




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Gills exposition of the entire bible commentary 

let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin; not only a young woman, but a virgin, that has more natural heat than women that have bore children have, which is abated thereby:

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Rashis commentary 

A virgin: her virginity warms her flesh.
A warmer: Heb. סכנת a warmer, and similarly “and he who chops wood is warmed (יסכן) by them” (Eccl. 10:9).

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Easy English bible commentary 

David was now about 70 years old. His servants still respected him as the king. So they did not just choose any woman to carry out this task. They selected a woman who was fit to be a queen. They searched across the whole country to find her. In the end, they chose Abishag to be David’s nurse. She looked after the king. But he was too old and weak to have sex with her. People believed that to keep someone warm in that way was a good medical way to look after that person.

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First and second kings Everyman's bible commentary 

Induction of David's old age (1:1-4) after a long glorious career old age finally overtook King David (the see 2 sam 21:15-17) apparently circulatory problems plagued him he had trouble keeping warm (v:1) winters in Jerusalem are very cold and rainy especially at night without central heat the stone palace will become an icebox pneumonia threatened the great kings life, so the Royal staff proposed a solution (v:2) they would find a young virgin to nurse him and at night to warm him with her body heat. Both the Jewish historian Josephus (1 cent AD) and the Greek physician Galen (2nd cent AD) report the usage of such therapy. 

William whiston trans. The antiquities of the Jews vii.xiv.3 in Josephus: complete works (reprints Grand Rapids : Kregel 1960) for Galen, see John gray 1 and 2 kings, Old Testament library, 2nd ed Philadelphia : Westminster, 1970, p.77


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Wherefore his servants said unto him,.... His physicians; so Joseph's physicians are called his servants, Genesis 50:2
let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin; not only a young woman, but a virgin, that has more natural heat than women that have bore children have, which is abated thereby: 
and let her stand before the king: minister to him, serve him with whatsoever he should want to eat or drink; and so by being in his presence, and taking things at her hand, she might be the more ingratiated into his affections: 
and let her cherish him; as the husband the wife, so she her husband, as doubtless David was; and that by giving him cordials to cheer his spirits, and everything that was convenient for him, and particularly by lying with him. Kimchi interprets the word of her being profitable to him, in which sense the word is used, Job 22:2; that is, by warming him; Ben Gersom understands it of her being made mistress of his treasures, according to the sense of the word in Isaiah 22:15; that she might have the command of his purse, and provide anything proper for him, without being taken notice of or obstructed; but the Targum is better, 
"and let her be near him,'' 
lie close unto him, and even in his bosom, as in the next clause: 
and let her lie in his bosom; which shows that it was proposed that he should marry her, at least that she should become his concubine wife, since this phrase is descriptive of a wife, Micah 7:5; nor can it be thought his physicians would advise, or he agree to have a young woman admitted to his bed, without marriage; and if this had not been the case, it would not have answered the design of Adonijah in requesting her in marriage after his father's death, which was to make way to ascend the throne when opportunity should offer; nor would his request have been so much resented by Solomon as it was, 1 Kings 2:17
that my lord the king may get heat: and somewhat similar to this, Galen, that great physician, prescribed in like cases (d). 
(d) Vid. Poli Synopsin in loc.

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There you have it a 70 year old man had a young virgin girl to keep him warm, guess that's ok with Christians 


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