1 Kings 1:11

Nathan and Bathsheba Before David

11 Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, "Have you not heard that ¹Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king and David our lord does not know it?

1 Kings 1:11 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 1:11

Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bathsheba the mother of Solomon,
&c.] Who not only had an interest in the king, being his wife, and an easy access to him, but had a special concern in this affair, as it affected her son, to whom the succession of the kingdom was designed and promised:

saying, hast thou not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith doth
reign?
has usurped the throne, and is proclaimed king by a party, who at least have drank his health as such; has taken the title, and is about to exercise the power of a king; this Bathsheba might not have heard of, and which he expresses in this manner to quicken her to make an immediate application to the king:

and David our Lord knoweth [it] not;
being so infirm, and in his bed, and nobody about him to inform him of it; it was done without his knowledge, and far from being with his consent and approbation.

1 Kings 1:11 In-Context

9 Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened cattle by the Serpent's Stone, which is beside En-rogel, and he invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the royal officials of Judah,

10 but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the mighty men or Solomon his brother.

11 Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, "Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king and David our lord does not know it?

12 Now therefore come, let me give you advice, that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon.

13 Go in at once to King David, and say to him, 'Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying, "Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne"? Why then is Adonijah king?'

Cross References

• 1. [See ver. 5 above]