For I was my father's son,.... Or, "a son to my father" ; so Solomon was to God, his heavenly Father, 2Sa 7:14; which Jarchi observes, and gives as the sense of this place: but his father David is meant, whose son he was; though he was not his only one, he had others besides him.
But the sense is, that he was his darling, his beloved son, whom he loved above the rest; as he was beloved of the Lord, and therefore his name was called Jedidiah, so he was beloved of his father; and, because he had a peculiar love for him, he took a particular care of his education;tender and only [beloved] in the sight of my mother; his mother Bathsheba, who had a most affectionate regard to him; and therefore in his tender age, as soon as he was susceptible of instructions, gave them to him, which being received, made deep and lasting impressions on him; see Pr 31:1.
The marginal reading is, "to the sons of my mother"; for Bathsheba had more sons, 1Ch 3:5; both readings may be retained, "beloved in the sight of my mother's sons". Gersom interprets this of the people of Israel, who were sons to God their Father; and were the only nation that received the law, and which they received at the time of their coming out of Egypt, in the days of their youth.