1 Kings 1:40

40 All the people followed him, playing flutes and rejoicing with such a great joy that the earth split open from the sound.^[a]

1 Kings 1:40 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 1:40

And all the people came up after him
Following him from the fountain to the city, with their loud acclamations:

and the people piped with pipes;
which were hollow instruments, and full of holes which they blew with their mouths, and upon with their fingers; Jarchi says they were and very probably:

and rejoiced with great joy;
which they expressed by such loud shouts:

so that the earth rent with the sound thereof;
an hyperbolical expression, showing the great numbers gathered together on this occasion, and the sonorous acclamations they made.

1 Kings 1:40 In-Context

38 Then Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down, had Solomon ride on King David's mule, and took him to Gihon.

39 Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tabernacle and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the ram's horn, and all the people proclaimed, "Long live King Solomon!"

40 All the people followed him, playing flutes and rejoicing with such a great joy that the earth split open from the sound.

41 Adonijah and all the invited guests who were with him heard [the noise] as they finished eating. Joab heard the sound of the ram's horn and said, "Why is the town in such an uproar?"

42 He was still speaking when Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest, suddenly arrived. Adonijah said, "Come in, for you are an excellent man, and you must be bringing good news."

Footnotes

• [a]. LXX reads the land resounded with their noise