Solomon as king
1
📚Now King David was old and advanced in years 📖, and they put covers over him, but he did not keep warm. 2 📚Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young virgin be sought for my lord the king, and let her attend the king and take care of him, and let her lie in your bosom, so that my lord the king may keep warm”.3 📚So they looked for a beautiful girl throughout all the territories of Israel, and found Abishag, a Shunam 📖mite, and brought her to the king. 4 📚And the girl was very beautiful, and took care of the king and ministered to him, but the king did not know 📖 her.
5 📚Then Adonijah 📖, the son of Haggith, exalted himself 📖, saying, “I will be king”, and he prepared chariots and horsemen for himself, and fifty men to run before him 📖. 6 📚And his father had not displeased him 📖 at any time by saying, “Why have you done so?” And he also was a very handsome man; and his mother bore him after Absalom.
7 📚And he conferred with Joab 📖 the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest; and they followed Adonijah and helped him 📖. 8 📚But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah 📖 the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei 📖, and David’s mighty men, were not with Adonijah.
9 📚And Adonijah slaughtered sheep and oxen and fat cattle at the stone of Zoheleth, which is by En-Rogel 📖, and invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants. 10 📚But he did not invite Nathan the prophet and Benaiah and the mighty men, and Solomon 📖 his brother.
Solomon chosen by David and God
11 📚Therefore Nathan spoke to Bathsheba 📖, the mother of Solomon, saying, “Have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has become king, and our lord David does not know it? 12 📚Now therefore come, please let me give you counsel, so that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. 13 📚Go and approach King David and say to him, ‘My lord the king, did you not swear to your maid servant, saying, “Your son Solomon shall certainly reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne?” Why then has Adonijah become king?’
1:13 This promise is not recorded in the Bible, but David says in v 30 that he had made it. And God had made it clear to David that Solomon was the one to be David’s successor (1 Chron 22:6-10; 1 Chron 28:5-7). One main difference between Adonijah and Solomon is that Adonijah “exalted himself” (v 5), but God appointed Solomon.⚜
14 📚Look, while you are still talking there with the king, I also will come in after you, and confirm your words”.
15 📚And Bathsheba went in to the king in his room. And the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite ministered to the king. 16 📚And Bathsheba bowed and prostrated herself to the king. And the king said, “What do you wish?”
17 📚And she said to him, “My lord, you swore by the LORD your God to your maid servant, saying, ‘Your son Solomon shall certainly reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.’ 18 📚And now, look, Adonijah has become king, and now, my lord the king, you do not know it. 19 📚And he has slaughtered oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited your servant Solomon. 20 📚And as for you, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, that you should tell them who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21 📚Otherwise it shall come about, when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be regarded as offenders”.
1:21 She was afraid that Adonijah would put to death any potential rivals for the throne.⚜
22 📚And, then, while she was still talking with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in. 23 📚And they told the king, saying, “Look, Nathan the prophet”. And when he had come in before the king, he bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.
24 📚And Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said ‘Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne?’
1:24 Nathan could be blunt when that was needed (2 Sam 12:7). He could also be diplomatic and shrewd. He well knew that David had not chosen Adonijah.⚜
25 📚For he has gone down this day, and slaughtered oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the King’s sons and the officers of the army and Abiathar the priest, and, see, they are eating and drinking in his presence, and they are saying, ‘God save king Adonijah!’ 26 📚But he has not invited me, me your servant, or Zadok the priest or Benaiah the son of Jehoiada or your servant Solomon. 27 📚Is this thing done by my lord the king? And have you not told your servant who would sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”
28 Then King David answered and said, “Call Bathsheba for me”. And she came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king.
29 📚And the king took an oath and said, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all distress 📖, 30 📚just as I swore to you by the LORD God of Israel, saying, ‘Solomon your son shall certainly reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my stead’, just so I will certainly do today”.
1:30 Verse 13.⚜
31 📚Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth and prostrated herself to the King, and said, “May my lord King David live forever”.
32 📚And King David said, “Call Zadok the priest for me, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada”. And they came before the king. 33 📚And the King said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon 📖, 34 📚and have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king there over Israel, and blow with the trumpet, and say, ‘God save King Solomon.’ 35 📚Then you shall come up after him, that he may come and sit on my throne. For he shall be king in my place, for I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah”.
36 📚And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, answered the King, and said, “Amen! May the LORD God of my lord the king say so too. 37 📚As the LORD has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David”.
38 📚So Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Kerethites and the Pelethites 📖, went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon. 39 📚And Zadok the priest took a horn of oil out of the tabernacle and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “God save King Solomon!”
1:39 Anointing with oil indicated that God was setting apart a person to be king.⚜
40 📚And all the people came up after him, and the people were playing on flutes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth split with their noise.
41 📚And Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “Why is that noise of uproar coming from the city?”
1:41 Gihon was not far from En-Rogel and loud noise from one place would carry to the other.⚜
42 📚And while he was still speaking, suddenly Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came, and Adonijah said to him, “Come in, for you are a brave man, and bring good news”.
43 And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, “On the contrary. Our lord King David has made Solomon King. 44 And the King has sent with him Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and they had him ride on the king’s mule. 45 📚And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. And they have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar again. This is the noise that you heard. 46 📚And also Solomon is seated on the throne of the kingdom. 47 📚And, moreover, the king’s servants have come to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne.’ And the king bowed down on the bed. 48 📚And also the king has said, ‘Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne 📖 today, with my eyes seeing it.’”
49 📚And all the guests who were with Adonijah were afraid and rose up, and every man went his way.
1:49 When Adonijah’s attempt to be king failed he suddenly lost his supporters. As so often among men, fear destroyed any loyalty they may have had.⚜
50 📚And Adonijah was afraid because of Solomon, and arose and went and took hold of the horns 📖 of the altar. 51 And it was told Solomon, saying, “Look, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, for, see, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not kill his servant with the sword.’ ”
52 📚And Solomon said, “If he shows himself a worthy man, not a hair of his will fall to the ground, but if wickedness is found in him, he will die”. 53 📚So King Solomon sent men, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house”.