(2) I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man; (3) And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself: (4) That the LORD may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.
The opening of this charge to Solomon is just as might be expected from the man after God's own heart. What could he say; what ought he to have uttered, but such a charge concerning his regard to the faithful God as he here delivered to his son, as his successor in the kingdom? The Holy Ghost, in the parallel passage of David's dying scene, which he hath been pleased to have recorded in the first book of the Chronicles, gives a much more particular account of his last words, both to Solomon, and to the princes, and the captains of his court, than is here mentioned. And as there are several leading circumstances in that account which David, as a dying prophet, delivered in reference to the gospel church, I could wish that the Reader would consult that scripture while he has read this. See 1 Chronicles 28:1-10.