1 Kings 1:1-4 ESV
Now King David was old and advanced in years. And although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. 2 Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young woman be sought for my lord the king, and let her wait on the king and be in his service. Let her lie in your arms, that my lord the king may be warm.” 3 So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. 4 The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, but the king knew her not.

ENCOURAGE THE WEAK.
Age and weariness had caught up David [ age 70+ perhaps] so that ‘he could not get warm’ by himself. His condition of hypothermia is common to old people. The once tough shepherd- warrior who had endured many cold Judean nights in the open now is seen trembling in cold inside his beautiful palace.

Even with extra blankets couldn’t keep the elderly king warm and alleviate his condition. Thus, his servants had hired Abishag, a beautiful Shunammite young woman, to serve the king by lying with the king to make him warm.

“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.” [ by David Guzik]

“Abishag was neither a wife nor a concubine, but her position in the king’s household gave her such high prestige that David’s son Adonijah asked to marry her after the king’s death, but Solomon recognized this as an attempt by Adonijah to make himself king, and he had his brother executed (1 Kings 2:21–25).”[by gotquestions.org]

Hence, it was more of helping the worsening physical condition to an aging David. There was no sexual relationship whatsoever.[see v.4] Unlike before, our old folks today may avail to thermal blankets to keep them warm. But, what about their spiritual wamth? How could we support them to be spiritually warm?

Paul wrote, “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.” [1 Thess 5:11]

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