1 Kings 1

David’s Last Days

1 Now King David had become old, {advanced in years},^[a] and they covered him with garments, but he was not warm.

2 His servants said to him, "Let them search for a young virgin for my lord the king, and let her stand before the king. Let her be of use for him, and let her lie in your lap that my lord the king may be warm."

3 So they sought a beautiful young woman in all the territory of Israel, and they found Abishag the Shunnamite and brought her to the king.

4 Now the young woman was very beautiful; she was of use for the king, and she served him, but the king did not {have sexual relations with her}.^[b]

Adonijah Seeks David’s Throne

5 Now Adonijah the son of Haggith was exalting himself, saying, "I will be king," so he prepared for himself a chariot and horsemen and fifty men running before him.

6 His father did not rebuke him {at any time}^[c] [by] saying, "Why did you do so?" Now he was also very handsome of appearance; she had borne him after Absalom.^[d]

7 {He conferred}^[e] with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and {they supported Adonijah}.^[f]

8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty warriors were David's; they were not with Adonijah.

9 And Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened animals near the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En Rogel. He invited all of his brothers, the sons of the king, and all the men of Judah, the servants of the king.

10 But he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the mighty warriors or Solomon his brother.

Solomon’s Intercessors

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

12 So then, come, let me advise you please, {that you may save}^[g] your life and the life of your son, Solomon.

13 Come, go to King David and say to him, 'Have you not, my lord the king, sworn to your servant, "Surely Solomon your son shall become king after me. And he will sit on my throne"? But why is Adonijah king?'

14 While you are still there speaking with the king, I will enter after you, and {I will confirm your words}."^[h]

15 So Bathsheba went to the king in the private room. Now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunnamite was attending the king.

16 Bathsheba knelt and bowed down before the king, and the king asked, "{What do you want}?"^[i]

17 She said to him, "My lord, you swore by Yahweh your God to your servant, 'Solomon your son surely shall become king after me, and he will sit upon my throne!'

18 But now, look! Adonijah has become king! And now, my lord the king, you do not know!

19 He has sacrificed oxen and sheep and fattened animals {in abundance},^[j] and he has invited all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest, Joab the commander of the army, but Solomon your servant he did not invite.

20 But as for you, my lord the king, the eyes of all of Israel are on you, to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

21 It shall be that when my lord the king sleeps with his ancestors,^[k] I and my son Solomon will be [considered as] sinners."

22 While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came [in].

23 They told the king, "Nathan the prophet is here." He came into the presence of the king and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

24 Nathan said, "My lord the king, have you said, 'Adonijah shall be king after me and he shall sit on my throne'?

25 "For he went down today and sacrificed oxen, sheep, and fattened animals {in abundance}.^[l] He invited all the sons of the king, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest, and look, they are eating and drinking before him. They have also said, "Long live King Adonijah!

26 But me, your servant, Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Solomon your servant he did not invite.

27 If it was from my lord the king that this thing has happened, [then all is well,] but if not, you must let your servants know who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him."

28 Then King David answered and said, "Summon Bathsheba for me." Then she came before the king and stood in his presence.^[m]

29 Then the king swore and said, "{As Yahweh lives},^[n] who has saved my life from all trouble,

30 surely as I swore to you by Yahweh the God of Israel, saying, 'Solomon your son shall surely be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,' surely I shall do so this [very] day."

31 Then Bathsheba knelt with her face to the ground and did obeisance to the king, and she said, "May my lord, King David, live forever."

Solomon Is Crowned King

32 Then King David said, "Summon Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada," and they came before the king.

33 The king said to them, "Take with you all the servants of your lord, and let them make Solomon my son ride on my mule, and bring him down to Gihon.

34 Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel. Blow on the trumpet and say, 'Long live King Solomon!'

35 Then you shall go up after him, and let him come and sit on my throne; he shall be king in my place. I have appointed him to be leader over Israel and Judah."

36 Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, "Amen! So may Yahweh, the God of my lord the king, confirm it!

37 As Yahweh was with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David."

38 Then Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites went down, and they let Solomon ride on the mule of King David, and they brought him to Gihon.

39 Then Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent, and he anointed Solomon. They blew on the trumpet, and all the people said, "Long live King Solomon!"

40 All the people went up after him, and the people were playing on the flutes and rejoicing [with] great joy, and the earth shook with their noise.

Adonijah’s Response to the Coronation of Solomon

41 And Adonijah and all the invited guests who were with him heard [it]. Now they were finished eating when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet and said, "{Why is there such a noise in the city?}"^[o]

42 While he was still speaking, suddenly Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. Adonijah said, "Come, for you are a man of valor, and you bring good news."

43 Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, "But our lord King David has made Solomon king!

44 He sent Zadok the priest with the king, and Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites; they made him ride on the king's mule.

45 Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him as king at Gihon, and they have gone up from there rejoicing. The city has gone wild; this [is] the sound which you heard.

46 And also, Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom!

47 The servants of the king also came to congratulate our lord King David, saying, 'Your God has made the name of Solomon better than your name and his throne greater than your throne!' So the king worshiped on the bed.

48 What is more, the king said, 'May Yahweh the God of Israel be blessed, who has given this day one sitting on my throne, and my eyes are seeing [it]!'"

49 Then all the invited guests who [were] for Adonijah trembled and got up and went, each on his way.

50 Adonijah was afraid because of Solomon, and he got up and went and grasped the horns of the altar.

51 Solomon was told, "Look, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, and he has grasped the horns of the altar, saying, 'Let King Solomon swear to me {first}^[p] that he will surely not kill his servant with the sword!'"

52 Solomon said, "If he is a son of noble character, not a hair of his [head] will fall to the ground, but if evil is found in him, then he will die."

53 Then King Solomon sent and brought him down from upon the altar. He came and did obeisance to King Solomon. Solomon said to him, "Go to your house."

1 Kings 1 Commentary

Chapter 1

The history now before us accounts for the affairs of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, yet with special regard to the kingdom of God among them; for it is a sacred history. It is earlier as to time, teaches much more, and is more interesting than any common histories.

David's declining age. (1-4) Adonijah aspires to the throne. (5-10) David makes Solomon king. (11-31) Solomon is anointed king, and Adonijah's usurpation stopped. (32-53)

Verses 1-4 We have David sinking under infirmities. He was chastised for his recent sins, and felt the effects of his former toils and hardships.

Verses 5-10 Indulgent parents are often chastised with disobedient children, who are anxious to possess their estates. No worldly wisdom, nor experience, nor sacredness of character, can insure the continuance in any former course of those who remain under the power of self-love. But we may well wonder by what arts Joab and Abiathar could be drawn aside.

Verses 11-31 Observe Nathan's address to Bathsheba. Let me give thee counsel how to save thy own life, and the life of thy son. Such as this is the counsel Christ's ministers give us in his name, to give all diligence, not only that no man take our crown, Re. 3:11 , but that we save our lives, even the lives of our souls. David made a solemn declaration of his firm cleaving to his former resolution, that Solomon should be his successor. Even the recollection of the distresses from which the Lord redeemed him, increased his comfort, inspired his hopes, and animated him to his duty, under the decays of nature and the approach of death.

Verses 32-53 The people expressed great joy and satisfaction in the elevation of Solomon. Every true Israelite rejoices in the exaltation of the Son of David. Combinations formed upon evil principles will soon be dissolved, when self-interest calls another way. How can those who do evil deeds expect to have good tidings? Adonijah had despised Solomon, but soon dreaded him. We see here, as in a glass, Jesus, the Son of David and the Son of God, exalted to the throne of glory, notwithstanding all his enemies. His kingdom is far greater than that of his father David, and therein all the true people of God cordially rejoice. The prosperity of his cause is vexation and terror to his enemies. No horns of the altar, nor forms of godliness, nor pretences to religion, can profit those who will not submit to His authority, and accept of his salvation; and if their submission be hypocritical, they shall perish without remedy.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "he went in the days"
• [b]. Literally "know her"
• [c]. Literally "from his days"
• [d]. "She" refers to Haggith bearing Adonijah; Absalom's mother was Maacah
• [e]. Literally "And there were his words"
• [f]. Literally "they helped after Adonijah"
• [g]. Literally "and save"
• [h]. Literally "I will make full your words"
• [i]. Literally "What [is] for you"
• [j]. Literally "as far as the many"
• [k]. Or "fathers"
• [l]. Literally "as far as the many"
• [m]. Following the corrected LXX and Vulgate
• [n]. Literally "The life of Yahweh"
• [o]. Literally "Why is the sound of the city noisy?"
• [p]. Literally "as the day"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST KINGS

This, and the following book, properly are but one book, divided into two parts, and went with the Jews under the common name of Kings. This, in the Syriac version, is called the Book of Kings; and in the Arabic version, the Book of Solomon, the Son of David the Prophet, because it begins with his reign upon the death of his father; and, in the Vulgate Latin version, the Third Book of Kings, the two preceding books of Samuel being sometimes called the First and Second Books of Kings, they containing the reigns of Saul and David; and in the Septuagint version both this and the following book are called Kingdoms, because they treat of the kingdom of Israel and Judah, after the division in the times of Rehoboam, son of Solomon, and of the several kings of them; as of Solomon before the division, so afterwards of the kings of Judah; Rehoboam, Abijam, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Jehoash, Amaziah, Uzziah or Azariah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah; and of the kings of Israel, Jeroboam, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehu, Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam the son of Joash, Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, and Hoshea; so that these books may, with great propriety, be called the books or histories of the kings in the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel: who they were written by, is not easy to say; some think they were written by piecemeal by the prophets that lived in the several reigns successively, as Nathan, Ahijah the Shilonite, Iddo, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and afterwards put together by an inspired writer. The Jews commonly say {a}, that Jeremiah wrote the book of the Kings, by which they mean this, and the following book; though very probably they were written by Ezra, since the history in them is carried down to the liberty granted to Jehoiachin in Babylon; but that Ezra was the writer of all the preceding historical books, and even of the Pentateuch, cannot be admitted, which is the conceit of Spinosa {b}; part of whose tract is just now republished by somebody, word for word, under a title as in the margin {c}; but that Ezra was not the writer of the Pentateuch is clear, since he refers to it as written by Moses, and as the rule of religion and worship in his times, Ezr 3:2-4, 6:18; and it is certain these writings were in being in the times of Josiah, Amaziah, Joash, yea, of David, and even of Joshua, \2Ch 34:14 25:4 23:18 1Ki 2:3 Jos 8:34\; and as for the book of Joshua, that also was written long before Ezra's time; it must be written long before the times of David, before the Jebusites were expelled from Jerusalem, since the writer of it says, that they dwelt there in his days, Jos 15:63; the book of Judges must be written before the times of Samuel and David, since the former refers to the annals of it, 1Sa 12:9,10; and the latter alludes to some passages in it, Ps 68:7,8; see Jud 5:4,5; and a speech of Joab's, 2Sa 11:21, shows it to be an history then extant: to which may be added, that in it Jerusalem is called Jebus, Jud 19:10,11; which it never was, after it was taken by David out of the hands of the Jebusites, 2Sa 5:6; the book of Ruth very probably was written by Samuel; had it been of a later date, or written by Ezra, the genealogy with which it concludes, would doubtless have been carried further than to David: the Book of Samuel, and particularly the song of Hannah in it, were written in all probability before the penning of the hundred thirteenth psalm, Ps 113:1-9, in which some expressions seem to be taken from it wherefore, though the two books of Kings may be allowed to be written or compiled by Ezra, the ten preceding ones cannot be assigned to him: however, there is no room to doubt of the divine authority of these two books, when the honour our Lord has done them is observed, by quoting or referring to several histories in them; as to the account of the queen of Sheba coming to hear the wisdom of Solomon; of the famine in the times of Elijah; and of that prophet being sent to the widow of Sarepta, and of the cleansing of Naaman the Syrian in the times of Elisha, Mt 12:42, Lu 4:25-28 from 1Ki 17:1-10 2Ki 5:10-14; to which may be added, the quotations and references made by the apostles to passages in them, as by the Apostle Paul in Ro 11:2-4 from 1Ki 19:14,18; where this book is expressly called the Scripture; and by the Apostle James, Jas 5:17,18; who manifestly refers to 1Ki 17:1-24; and there are various things in this part of Scripture, which are confirmed by the testimonies of Heathen writers, as will be observed in the exposition of it. The use of these books is to carry on the history of the Jewish nation, to show the state of the church of God in those times, and his providential care of it amidst all the changes and vicissitudes in the state; and, above all, to transmit to us the true genealogy of the Messiah, which serves to confirm the Evangelist Matthew's account of it.

{a} T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 15. 1. {b} Tractat. Theolog. Politic. c. 8. & 9. p. 150 {c} Tractatus de Primis 12. Vet. Test. Lib. &c. Londini 1763.

\\INTRODUCTION TO FIRST KINGS 1\\

This chapter gives an account of the infirmities of David in his old age, and the method used to relieve him under them, 1Ki 1:1-4; of the preparation his son Adonijah made to usurp the throne, 1Ki 1:5-10; of Bathsheba's address to the king upon it, in favour of her son Solomon, on which she was put by, Nathan the prophet, and seconded in it by him, 1Ki 1:11-27; when the king with an oath confirmed the succession of Solomon in the kingdom, and ordered Nathan the prophet, and Zadok the priest, to anoint him, which was accordingly done with great ceremony, to the satisfaction of the king and his servants, 1Ki 1:28-40; the news of which being brought to Adonijah and his friends, struck them with terror, and on which they dispersed, 1Ki 1:41-50; and upon the promise of Adonijah, that he would behave well to Solomon, he was pardoned and dismissed, having fled and lain hold on the horns of the altar, 1Ki 1:51-53.