Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
The son of Nathan - It is uncertain whether the Nathan of this verse is the prophet or the son of David II Samuel 5:14. While on the one hand the position of "king' s friend" is more likely to have been held by a contemporary, which the prophet' s son would have been, than by one so much younger as the son of a younger brother; on the other hand the title "cohen" seems to point to a member of the royal family. (See the next note.) Azariah who was "over the officers" was chief, that is, of the "officers" mentioned in I Kings 4:8-19, as appears from the identity of the term here used with the title by which they are designated in I Kings 4:7.
Principal officer - Or, "cohen." The fact that the title kôhên was borne by sons of David II Samuel 8:18, who could not be "priests" in the ordinary sense of the word, seems to identify the Nathan of this verse with David' s son II Samuel 5:14 rather than with the prophet.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing 1 Kings 4:5:
2 Samuel 8:6
2 Samuel 8:16-18
2 Samuel 20:23
1 Chronicles 27:32-34
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