He asked only the preservation of that short and mortal life, which was oft exposed to utmost perils. For ever and ever; either,
1. In his posterity, in whom parents are commonly said to live. Thou gavest the kingdom not only to himself for a season, as thou didst to Saul; but to him and to his seed for ever. Or rather,
2. In his person; for this giving answers to David's asking. And the thing which David asked of God was not the kingdom, (wherein God had prevented his prayers, and granted what David durst not have presumed to ask,) but only life, or the saving and prolonging of his life, which his enemies designed to take away. Thou gavest him a long life and reign here, and after that thou didst translate him to thy heavenly kingdom, to live with thee for ever. But this was more eminently fulfilled in Christ, who asked of his Father life, or to be saved from death, Hebrews 5:7, though with submission to his will. But his Father, though he saw it fit and necessary to take away his temporal life, yet he instantly gave him another, and that far more noble, instead of it, even the perfect possession of an everlasting and most glorious life, both in his soul and body, at his right hand.