Bible Commentaries

Anointing And Accession Of Solomon - 1 Kings 1

The attempt of Adonijah to seize upon the throne when David's strengthwas failing (1 Kings 1:1-10), induced the aged king, as soon as it was announcedto him by Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan, to order Solomon to beanointed king, and to have the anointing carried out (vv. 11-40);whereupon Adonijah fled to the altar, and received pardon from Solomonon condition that he would keep himself quiet (1 Kings 1:41-53).

When king David had become so old that they could no longerwarm him by covering him with clothes, his servants advised him toincrease his vitality by lying with a young and robust virgin, and selectedthe beautiful Abishag of Shunem to perform this service. Thiscircumstance, which is a trivial one in itself, is only mentioned on accountof what follows - first, because it shows that David had become too weakfrom age, and too destitute of energy, to be able to carry on thegovernment any longer; and, secondly, because Adonijah the pretenderafterwards forfeited his life through asking for Abishag in marriage. - Theopening of our book, והמּלך (and the King), may be explainedfrom the fact that the account which follows has been taken from a writingcontaining the earlier history of David, and that the author of these booksretained the Vav cop. which he found there, for the purpose of showing atthe outset that his work was a continuation of the books of Samuel. בּיּמים בּא זקן as in Joshua 13:1; Joshua 23:1; Genesis 24:1, etc. “They covered him with clothes, and he did not get warm.” Itfollows from this that the king was bedridden, or at least that when lyingdown he could no longer be kept warm with bed-clothes. בּגדים does not mean clothes to wear here, but large cloths, which were used asbed-clothes, as in 1 Samuel 19:13 and Numbers 4:6. יחם is usedimpersonally, and derived from חמם, cf. Ewald, §193, b., and 138, b. As David was then in his seventieth year, thisdecrepitude was not the natural result of extreme old age, but theconsequence of a sickly constitution, arising out of the hardships which hehad endured in his agitated and restless life. The proposal of his servants,to restore the vital warmth which he had lost by bringing a virgin to liewith him, is recommended as an experiment by Galen (Method. medic. viii. 7). And it has been an acknowledged fact with physicians of all ages,that departing vitality may be preserved and strengthened bycommunicating the vital warmth of strong and youthful persons (compareTrusen, Sitten Gebräuche u. Krankheiten der Hebräer, p. 257ff.). Thesingular suffix in לאדני is to be explained on the ground that oneperson spoke. בתוּלה נערה, a maid who is a virgin. לפני עמד, to stand before a person as servant = toserve (cf. Deuteronomy 1:38 with Exodus 24:13). סכנת, an attendant or nurse,from סכן = שׁכן, to live with a person, then to behelpful or useful to him. With the words “that she may lie in thy bosom,”the passage passes, as is frequently the case, from the third person to adirect address.

They then looked about for a beautiful girl for this purpose, and foundAbishag of Shunem, the present Sulem or Solam, at the south-eastern footof the Duhy of Little Hermon (see at Joshua 19:18), who became the king'snurse and waited upon him. The further remark, “and the king knew hernot,” is not introduced either to indicate the impotence of David or toshow that she did not become David's concubine, but simply to explainhow it was that it could possibly occur to Adonijah (1 Kings 2:17) to askfor her as his wife. Moreover, the whole affair is to be judged according tothe circumstances of the times, when there was nothing offensive inpolygamy.

Adonijah seized the opportunity of David's decrepitude to make himselfking. Although he was David's fourth son (2 Samuel 3:4), yet after the deathof Ammon and Absalom he was probably the eldest, as Chileab, David'ssecond son, had most likely died when a child, since he is never mentionedagain. Adonijah therefore thought that he had a claim to the throne (cf. 1 Kings 2:15), and wanted to secure it before his father's death. But in Israel,Jehovah, the God-King of His people, had reserved to Himself the choiceof the earthly king (Deuteronomy 17:15), and this right He exercised not only in thecase of Saul and David, but in that of Solomon also. When He gave toDavid the promise that his seed should rule for ever (2 Samuel 7:12-16), Hedid not ensure the establishment of the throne to any one of his existingsons, but to him that would come out of his loins (i.e., to Solomon, whowas not yet born); and after his birth He designated him through theprophet Nathan as the beloved of Jehovah (2 Samuel 12:24-25). Daviddiscerned from this that the Lord had chosen Solomon to be his successor,and he gave to Bathsheba a promise on oath that Solomon should sit uponthe throne (1 Kings 1:13 and 1 Kings 1:30). This promise was also acknowledged in thepresence of Nathan (1 Kings 1:11.), and certainly came to Adonijah's ears. Adonijah said, “I will be king,” and procured chariots and horsemen andfifty runners, as Absalom had done before (2 Samuel 15:1). רכב, in acollective sense, does not mean fighting or war chariots, but state carriages,like מרכּבה in 2 Samuel 15:1; and פּרשׁים are neitherriding nor carriage horses, but riders to form an escort whenever he droveout.

1 Kings 1:6

“And (= for) his father had never troubled him in his life(מיּמיו, a diebus ejus, i.e., his whole life long), saying, “Whyhast thou done this?” Such weak oversight on the part of his fatherencouraged him to make the present attempt. Moreover, he “was verybeautiful,” like Absalom (see at 2 Samuel 14:25), and born after Absalom, sothat after his death he appeared to have the nearest claim to the throne. The subject to ילדה is left indefinite, because it is implied inthe idea of the verb itself: “she bare,” i.e., his mother, as in Numbers 26:59 (vid., Ewald, §294, b.). There was no reason for mentioning the motherexpressly by name, as there was nothing depending upon the name here,and it had already been given in Numbers 26:5.

1 Kings 1:7

He conferred (for the expression, compare 2 Samuel 3:17) with Joaband Abiathar the priest, who supported him. אהרי עזר, to lend a helping hand to a person, i.e., to support him by eitheractually joining him or taking his part. Joab joined the pretender, becausehe had fallen out with David for a considerable time (cf. 1 Kings 2:5-6),and hoped to secure his influence with the new king if he helped him toobtain possession of the throne. But what induced Abiathar the high priest(see at 2 Samuel 8:17) to join in conspiracy with Adonijah, we do not know. Possibly jealousy of Zadok, and the fear that under Solomon he might bethrown still more into the shade. For although Zadok was only high priestat the tabernacle at Gibeon, he appears to have taken the lead; as we mayinfer from the fact that he is always mentioned before Abiathar (cf. 2 Samuel 8:17; 2 Samuel 20:25, and 2 Samuel 15:24.). For we cannot imagine that Joab and Abiatharhad supported Adonijah as having right on his side (Thenius), for thesimple reason that Joab did not trouble himself about right, and for hisown part shrank from no crime, when he thought that he had lost favourwith the king.

1 Kings 1:8

If Adonijah had powerful supporters in Joab the commander-in-chief and the high priest Abiathar, the rest of the leading officers of state,viz., Zadok the high priest (see at 2 Samuel 8:17), Benaiah, captain of theking's body-guard (see at 2 Samuel 8:18 and 2 Samuel 23:20-21), the prophet Nathan,Shimei (probably the son of Elah mentioned in 1 Kings 4:18), and Rei(unknown), and the Gibborim of David (see at 2 Samuel 23:8.), were notwith him.

1 Kings 1:9-10

Adonijah commenced his usurpation, like Absalom (2 Samuel 15:2), with a solemn sacrificial meal, at which he was proclaimed king, “atthe stone of Zocheleth by the side of the fountain of Rogel,” i.e., the spy'sfountain, or, according to the Chaldee and Syriac, the fuller's fountain, thepresent fountain of Job or Nehemiah, below the junction of the valley ofHinnom with the valley of Jehoshaphat (see at 2 Samuel 7:17 and Joshua 15:7). E. G. Schultz (Jerusalem, eine Vorlesung, p. 79) supposes the stone orrock of Zocheleth to be “the steep, rocky corner of the southern slope ofthe valley of Hinnom, which casts so deep a shade.” “The neighbourhood(Wady el Rubâb) is still a place of recreation for the inhabitants ofJerusalem.” To this festal meal Adonijah invited all his brethren exceptSolomon, and “all the men of Judah, the king's servants,” i.e., all theJudaeans who were in the king's service, i.e., were serving at court as beingmembers of his own tribe, with the exception of Nathan the prophet,Benaiah, and the Gibborim. The fact that Solomon and the othersmentioned were not included in the invitation, showed very clearly thatAdonijah was informed of Solomon's election as successor to the throne,and was also aware of the feelings of Nathan and Benaiah.

Adonijah's attempt was frustrated by the vigilance of the prophet Nathan.

1 Kings 1:11-13

Nathan informed Solomon's mother, Bathsheba (see at 2 Samuel 11:3), that Adonijah was making himself king (מלך כּי,that he had become as good as king: Thenius), and advised her, in order tosave her life and that of her son Solomon (וּמלטי, and save = sothat thou mayest save; cf. Ewald, §347, a.), to go to the king and remindhim of his promise on oath, that her son Solomon should be king after him,and to inquire why Adonijah had become king. If Adonijah had really gotpossession of the throne, he would probably have put Solomon and hismother out of the way, according to the barbarous custom of the East, ashis political opponents.

1 Kings 1:14

While she was still talking to the king, he (Nathan) would comein after her and confirm her words. דּבר מלּא, to make aword full, i.e., not to supply what is wanting, but to make full, like πληροῦν , either to fill by accomplishing, or (as in this case) toconfirm it by similar assertion.

1 Kings 1:15-21

Bathsheba followed this advice, and went to the king into theinner chamber (החדרה), since the very aged king, who waswaited upon by Abishag, could not leave his room (משׁרת forמשׁרתת; cf. Ewald, §188, b., p. 490), and, bowing low before him,communicated to him what Adonijah had taken in hand in opposition tohis will and without his knowledge. The second ועתּה is not tobe altered into ואתּה, inasmuch as it is supported by the oldestcodices and the Masora,

(Note: Kimchi says: “Plures scribae errant in hoc verbo, scribentesואתה cum Aleph, quia sensui hoc conformius est; sed constat nobis ex correctis MSS et masora, scribendum esseועתה cum Ain”Hence both Norzi and Bruns have taken ועתה under their protection.Compare de Rossi, variae lectt. ad h. l.)

although about two hundredcodd. contain the latter reading. The repetition of ועתּה (“And now, behold, Adonijah hasbecome king; and now, my lord king, thou knowest it not”) may beexplained from the energy with which Bathsheba speaks. “And Solomonthy servant he hath not invited” (1 Kings 1:19). Bathsheba added this, not becauseshe felt herself injured, but as a sign of Adonijah's feelings towardsSolomon, which showed that he had reason to fear the worst if Adonijahshould succeed in his usurpation of the throne. In 1 Kings 1:20, again, many codd. have ועתּה in the place of ואתּה; and Thenius, after hisusual fashion, pronounces the former the “only correct” reading, because itis apparently a better one. But here also the appearance is deceptive. Theantithesis to what Adonijah has already done is brought out quite suitablyby ואתּה: Adonijah has made himself king, etc.; but thou my lordking must decide in the matter. “The eyes of all Israel are turned towardsthee, to tell them who (whether Adonijah or Solomon) is to sit upon thethrone after thee.” “The decision of this question is in thy hand, for thepeople have not yet attached themselves to Adonijah, but are looking tothee, to see what thou wilt do; and they will follow thy judgment, if thouonly hastenest to make Solomon king.” - Seb. Schmidt. To secure thisdecision, Bathsheba refers again, in 1 Kings 1:21, to the fate which would awaitboth herself and her son Solomon after the death of the king. They wouldbe הטּאים, i.e., guilty of a capital crime. “We should bepunished as though guilty of high treason” (Clericus).

1 Kings 1:22-27

While Bathsheba was still speaking, Nathan came. When hewas announced to the king, Bathsheba retired, just as afterwards Nathanwent away when the king had Bathsheba called in again (cf. 1 Kings 1:28 with 1 Kings 1:32). This was done, not to avoid the appearance of a mutual arrangement(Cler., Then., etc.), but for reasons of propriety, inasmuch as, in audiencesgranted by the king to his wife or one of his counsellors, no third personought to be present unless the king required his attendance. Nathanconfirmed Bathsheba's statement, commencing thus: “My lord king, thouhast really said, Adonijah shall be king after me … ? for he has gone downto-day, and has prepared a feast, … and they are eating and drinking beforehim, and saying, Long live king Adonijah!” And he then closed by asking,“Has this taken place on the part of my lord the king, and thou hast notshown thy servants (Nathan, Zadok, Benaiah, and Solomon) who is to situpon the throne of my lord the king after him?” The indirect questionintroduced with אם is not merely an expression of modesty, butalso of doubt, whether what had occurred had emanated from the king andhe had not shown it to his servants.

1 Kings 1:28-30

The king then sent for Bathsheba again, and gave her thispromise on oath: “As truly as Jehovah liveth, who hath redeemed my soulout of all distress (as in 2 Samuel 4:9), yea, as I swore to thee by Jehovah, theGod of Israel, saying, Solomon thy son shall be king after me, … yea, soshall I do this day.” The first and third כּי serve to give emphasisto the assertion, like imo, yea (cf. Ewald, §330, b.). The second merelyserves as an introduction to the words.

1 Kings 1:31

Bathsheba then left the king with the deepest prostration andthe utterance of a blessing, as an expression of her inmost gratitude. Thebenedictory formula, “May the king live for ever,” was only used by theIsraelites on occasions of special importance; whereas the Babylonians andancient Persians constantly addressed their kings in this way (cf. Daniel 2:4; Daniel 3:9; Daniel 5:10; Daniel 6:22; Nehemiah 2:3. Aeliani var. hist. i. 32, and Curtius de gestis Alex. vi. 5).

1 Kings 1:32-40

David then sent for Zadok, Nathan, and Benaiah, and directed them tofetch the servants of their lord (אדניכם, a pluralis majestatis,referring to David alone), and to conduct Solomon to Gihon riding uponthe royal mule, and there to anoint him and solemnly proclaim him king. The servants of your lord (אדניכם עבדי) are theCrethi and Plethi, and not the Gibborim also (Thenius), as 1 Kings 1:38 clearlyshows, where we find that these alone went down with him to Gihon asthe royal body-guard. לי אשׁר על־הפּרדּה, upon the mule whichbelongs to me, i.e., upon my (the king's) mule. When the king let any oneride upon the animal on which he generally rode himself, this was a signthat he was his successor upon the throne. Among the ancient Persiansriding upon the king's horse was a public honour, which the king conferredupon persons of great merit in the eyes of all the people (cf. Esther 6:8-9). פּרדּה, the female mule, which in Kahira is still preferred to themale for riding (see Rosenmüller, bibl. Althk. iv. 2, p. 56). Gihon (גּחון) was the name given, according to 2 Chronicles 32:30 and 2 Chronicles 33:14, to a spring on the western side of Zion, which supplied twobasins or pools, viz., the upper watercourse of Gihon (2 Chronicles 32:30) orupper pool (2 Kings 18:17; Isaiah 7:3; Isaiah 36:2), and the lower pool (Isaiah 22:9). The upper Gihon still exists as a large reservoir built up with hewn stones,though somewhat fallen to decay, which is called by the monks Gihon, bythe natives Birket el Mamilla, about 700 yards W.N.W. from the Joppagate, in the basin which opens into the valley of Hinnom. The lower poolis probably the present Birket es Sultan, on the south-western side ofZion (see Robinson, Palestine, i. p. 485ff., 512ff., and Biblical Researches,p. 142ff.). The valley between the two was certainly the place whereSolomon was anointed, as it is not stated that this took place at thefountain of Gihon. And even the expression גּחון על אתו הורדתּם (take him down to Gihon) agrees withthis. For is you go from Zion to Gihon towards the west, you first of allhave to descend a slope, and then ascend by a gradual rise; and this slopewas probably a more considerable one in ancient times (Rob. Pal. i. p. 514,note).

(Note: The conjecture of Thenius, that גּחון should bealtered into גּבעון, is hardly worth mentioning; for, apartfrom the fact that all the ancient versions confirm the correctness ofגּחון, the objections which Thenius brings against it amountto mere conjectures or groundless assumptions, such as that Zadoktook the oil-horn out of the tabernacle at Gibeon, which is not statedin v. 39. Moreover, Gibeon was a three hours'journey fromJerusalem, so that it would have been absolutely impossible for theanointing, which was not commanded by David till after Adonijah'sfeast had commenced, to be finished so quickly that the processioncould return to Jerusalem before it was ended, as is distinctly recordedin v. 41.)

The blowing of the trumpet and the cry “Long live the king” (cf. 1 Samuel 10:24) were to serve as a solemn proclamation after the anointing hadtaken place.

After the anointing they were to conduct Solomon up to Zion again;Solomon was then to ascend the throne, as David was about to appointhim prince over Israel and Judah in his own stead. Both the anointing andthe appointment of Solomon as prince over the whole of the covenantnation were necessary, because the succession to the throne had beenrendered doubtful through Adonijah's attempt, and the aged king was stillalive. In cases where there was no question, and the son followed thefather after his death, the unanimous opinion of the Rabbins is, that therewas no anointing at all. Israel and Judah are mentioned, because David hadbeen the first to unite all the tribes under his sceptre, and after the death ofSolomon Israel fell away from the house of David.

Benaiah responded to the utterance of the royal will with the confirmatory“Amen, thus saith Jehovah the God of my lord the king;” i.e., may theword of the king become a word of Jehovah his God, who fulfils what Hepromises (Psalm 33:9); and added the pious wish, “May Jehovah be withSolomon, as He was with David, and glorify his throne above the throne ofDavid,” - a wish which was not merely “flattery of his paternal vanity”(Thenius), but which had in view the prosperity of the monarchy, and wasalso fulfilled by God (cf. 1 Kings 3:11.).

sa40

The anointing of Solomon was carried out immediately, as the king hadcommanded. On the Crethi and Plethi see at 2 Samuel 8:18. “The oil-horn outof the tent” (i.e., a vessel made of horn and containing oil) was no doubtone which held the holy anointing oil, with which the priests and thevessels of the sanctuary were anointed (see Exodus 30:22.). The tent (האהל), however, is not the tabernacle at Gibeon, but the tent set up byDavid for the ark of the covenant upon Mount Zion (2 Samuel 6:17). Foreven though Zadok was appointed high priest at the tabernacle at Gibeon,and Abiathar, who held with Adonijah, at the ark of the covenant, the twohigh priests were not so unfriendly towards one another, that Zadok couldnot have obtained admission to the ark of the covenant in Abiathar'sabsence to fetch away the anointing oil.

All the people, i.e., the crowd which was present at the anointing, went upafter him, i.e., accompanied Solomon to the citadel of Zion, with flutes andloud acclamation, so that the earth nearly burst with their shouting. תּבּקע, “to burst in pieces” (as in 2 Chronicles 25:12), is ahyperbolical expression for quaking.

The noise of this shouting reached the ears of Adonijah and his guests,when the feast was just drawing to a close. The music, therefore, and thejoyful acclamations of the people must have been heard as far off as thefountain of Rogel. When Joab observed the sound of the trumpet, knowingwhat these tones must signify, he asked “wherefore the sound of the cityin an uproar” (i.e., what does it mean)? At that moment Jonathan the sonof Abiathar arrived (see 2 Samuel 15:27; 2 Samuel 17:17.). Adonijah called out to him:“Come, for thou art a brave man and bringest good tidings;' suppressing allanxiety with these words, as he knew his father's will with regard to thesuccession to the throne, and the powerful and influential friends ofSolomon (see 1 Kings 1:5, 1 Kings 1:19, 1 Kings 1:26).

Jonathan replied: אבל, “yea but,” corresponding to the Latin imo vero, an expression of assurance with a slight doubt, and then related thatSolomon had been anointed king by David's command, and the city was ina joyous state of excitement in consequence (תּהם as in 1:19), and that he had even ascended the throne, that the servants of theking had blessed David for it, and that David himself had worshipped andpraised Jehovah the God of Israel that he had lived to see his son ascendthe throne. The repetition of וגם three times (1 Kings 1:46-48) givesemphasis to the words, since every new point which is introduced withוגם raises the thing higher and higher towards absolute certainty. The fact related in 1 Kings 1:47 refers to the words of Benaiah in 1 Kings 1:36 and 1 Kings 1:37. The Chethib אלהיך is the correct reading, and the Keri אלהים an unnecessary emendation. The prayer to God, with thanksgivingfor the favour granted to him, was offered by David after the return of hisanointed son Solomon to the royal palace; so that it ought strictly to havebeen mentioned after 1 Kings 1:40. The worship of grey-headed David upon thebed recalls to mind the worship of the patriarch Jacob after making knownhis last will (Genesis 47:31).

The news spread terror. All the guests of Adonijah fled, every man hisway. Adonijah himself sought refuge from Solomon at the horns of thealtar. The altar was regarded from time immemorial and among all nationsas a place of refuge for criminals deserving of death; but, according to Exodus 21:14, in Israel it was only allowed to afford protection in cases ofunintentional slaying, and for these special cities of refuge were afterwardsprovided (Num 35). In the horns of the altar, as symbols of power andstrength, there was concentrated the true significance of the altar as adivine place, from which there emanated both life and health (see at Exodus 27:19). By grasping the horns of the altar the culprit placed himself underthe protection of the saving and helping grace of God, which wipes awaysin, and thereby abolishes punishment (see Bähr, Symbolik des Mos. Cult. i. p. 474). The question to what altar Adonijah fled, whether to the altar atthe ark of the covenant in Zion, or to the one at the tabernacle at Gibeon,or to the one built by David on the threshing-floor of Araunah, cannot bedetermined with certainty. It was probably to the first of these, however,as nothing is said about a flight to Gibeon, and with regard to the altar ofAraunah it is not certain that it was provided with horns like the altars ofthe two sanctuaries.

When this was reported to Solomon, together with the prayer of Adonijahthat the king would swear to him that he would not put him to death withthe sword (אם before ימית, a particle used in an oath), hepromised him conditional impunity: “If he shall be brave (בּן־חיל, virprobus), none of his hair shall fall to the earth,” equivalent to not a hair ofhis head shall be injured (cf. 1 Samuel 14:45); “but if evil be found in him,”i.e., if he render himself guilty of a fresh crime, “he shall die.”

He then had him fetched down from the altar (הוריד( ratl, inasmuch as thealtar stood upon an eminence); and when he fell down before the king, i.e.,did homage to him as king, he gave him his life and freedom in the words,“Go to thy house.” The expression לביתך לך doesnot imply his banishment from the court (compare 1 Kings 2:13 and 2 Samuel 14:24). Solomon did not wish to commence his own ascent of the throneby infliction of punishment, and therefore presented the usurper with hislife on the condition that he kept himself quiet.