078. LV. Solomon’s Election As King
§ LV. SOLOMON’S ELECTION AS KING 1 Kings 1, 1 Kings 2:10-11
1. The aged king. Now King David was advanced in years, and although they covered him with clothes, he was not warm. Therefore his servants said to him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin and let her attend the king and constantly take care of him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord, the king, may be warm. So they sought for a beautiful maiden throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite and brought her to the king. And the maiden was surpassingly beautiful; and she took care of the king and ministered to him; but the king knew her not.
2. Adonijah’s conspiracy. Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king. Therefore he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run before him as runners. And his father had never in his life troubled him by saying, Why have you done so? And he was also an exceedingly good-looking man, and he was by birth next after Absalom. And he entered into negotiations with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, so that they espoused Adonijah’s cause. But Zadok the priest and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and Nathan the prophet and Shimei and Rei and David’s famous heroes were not with Adonijah. And Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fatlings by the Serpent’s Stone, which is beside the Fuller’s Spring, and he invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, together with all the royal officials of Judah; but the prophet Nathan and Benaiah and the famous heroes and Solomon his brother, he did not invite.
3. Nathan’s plan to insure Solomon’s succession. Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has been made king without David our lord knowing it? Now therefore come, let me counsel you that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. Go at once to King David and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord, the king, swear to your maid-servant, saying, “Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne? Why then has Adonijah been made king?”’ Just as you are talking with the king, I also will come in after you, and confirm your words.
4. Bathsheba’a message to David. And Bathsheba went in to the king into his apartment; and the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was ministering to the king. And Bathsheba bowed and did obeisance to the king. And the king said, What do you wish? And she said to him, My lord, you swore to your maid-servant by Jehovah God, ‘Solomon your son shall be king after me and he shall sit upon my throne.’ And now, see, Adonijah has been made king, without my lord, the king, knowing it. And he has slain oxen and fatlings 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 Solomon your servant he has not invited. And now, my lord, the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, that you should tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. Otherwise, the result will be, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be regarded as criminals.
5. Nathan’s confirmatory words. And, while she was still talking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. And they told the king, saying, Nathan the prophet is here. And he came in before the king and did obeisance before the king with his face to the ground. And Nathan said, My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall be king after me and shall sit on my throne?’ For he has gone down this day and slain oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has called all the king’s sons and the commanders of the army and Abiathar the priest; and there they are eating and drinking before him, and saying, ‘May King Adonijah live!’ But me, even me, your servant, and Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon, has he not invited. Has this been brought about by my lord the king, and have you not showed your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?
6. David’s declaration that Solomon should be king. Then King David answered and said, Call Bathsheba to me. And she came into the king’s presence and stood before the king. Then the king took an oath and said, As Jehovah liveth, who hath redeemed me out of all adversity, as I have sworn to you by Jehovah, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Solomon your son shall be king after me and he shall sit on my throne in my place;’ verily so will I do to-day. Then Bathsheba bowed her face to the earth, and did obeisance to the king and said, May my lord King David live forever.
7. Command to proclaim him king. Then King David said, Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And when they came before the king, the king said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, let Solomon my son ride upon my own mule, bring him down to Gihon, and there let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel; and blow the trumpet, and say, ‘May King Solomon live!’ Then you shall go up after him, and he shall enter in and sit upon my throne, for he shall be king in my place; and I have appointed him to be leader over Israel and Judah. And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, So may it be! thus may Jehovah establish the words of my lord the king. As Jehovah hath 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!
8. Public anointing and acceptance of Solomon. Then Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, together with the Cherethites and the Pelethites, went down and set Solomon on King David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon. And Zadok the priest took the horn of oil out of the tent and anointed Solomon. Thereupon they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, May King Solomon live! Then all the people went up after him and the people played on flutes and rejoiced so loudly that the earth seemed to be rent with their voice.
9. Announcement to the conspirators. Now Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it just as they had finished eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, Why is there the noise of the city in an uproar? While he was still speaking, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. And Adonijah said, Come in, for you are a valiant man and bring good news. And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Nay, but our lord King David has made Solomon king. And the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, together with the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and they have set him on the king’s mule, 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 thrown into an uproar. That is the noise which you heard. And Solomon also has taken his seat on the royal throne! And moreover the king’s servants have already come to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and his throne greater than your throne!’ and the king bowed himself on his bed. And furthermore thus said the king, ‘Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, who hath given one of my descendants to sit on my throne this day, my eyes even seeing it.’
10. Pardon of the conspirators. Then all the guests of Adonijah were seized with terror and rose up and each went his way. But Adonijah in his fear of Solomon arose, and went and caught hold of the horns of the altar. And it was reported to Solomon, See, Adonijah fears King Solomon, for behold he has caught hold of the horns of the altar, saying, Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not slay his servant with the sword. Solomon said, If he shall show himself a worthy man, not a hair of him shall fall to the earth, but if wickedness be found in him, he must die. So King Solomon sent to bring him away from the altar. And he came and did obeisance to King Solomon. And Solomon said to him, Go to your house.
11. David’s death. Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. And the period that David reigned over Israel was forty years: seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years he reigned in Jerusalem.
I. The Law of Succession in Israel. Inasmuch as David was but the second king to rule over all Israel, the law of succession had not yet been firmly established. The traditions of the Hebrew kingship went back to the old tribal life. Israel’s earliest rulers were but local chieftains or sheiks, with no authority that extended beyond their own tribe and lifetime. In the tribal life of the desert, the oldest son of the sheik succeeded his father, provided he had the requisite qualifications. If, however, a younger son revealed superior ability, the law of primo geniture was frequently set aside. Only the ablest man was called to rule. The two decisive elements in determining the succession were the nomination by the dying chief of the one who was to follow him, and the acceptance of this choice by the people. The same usage apparently continued in force in the days of David, so that Solomon’s succession was entirely legitimate.
II. Adonijah’s Attempted Usurpation. After his return to Jerusalem, David does not appear to have left the seclusion of his harem. While the spark of life still flickered in the body of the aged warrior-king, his court was the scene of constant intrigue. The royal promise to Bathsheba that her son should succeed the throne was probably known to the members of the court. Joab and the priest Abiathar evidently did not view the proposed succession with approval. With their sup port, Adonijah, the oldest surviving son of David, made a desperate attempt to secure the kingship. Like all the sons of David, he was of attractive appearance, ambitious and fond of display. He accordingly called an assembly of the nobles at the Serpent’s Stone, probably not far from the Pool of Siloam, to the south of Jerusalem where the valleys of the Kidron and Hinnom unite. He made the fatal mistake of not inviting to this assembly—the object of which was to proclaim him king—Nathan the prophet, Zadok the priest, Benaiah the commander of the body-guard and other famous warriors. Possibly this oversight was because he was aware that they were loyal not to himself, but to the son of David’s choice.
III. The Counter Conspiracy. Adonijah’s plans failed because of the prompt action of Nathan. Communicating the news to Bathsheba, the prophet arranged that they should go in to David and win his consent to have Solomon at once proclaimed king. Their plot was successful. Solomon was nominated by David as his successor, placed upon the royal mule and led by Zadok and Nathan to the spring of Gihon on the side of the Kidron valley east of the Hill of Ophel. There, a few hundred yards above the spot where the assembled banqueters were crying, “May King Adonijah live!” Solomon was anointed king by Zadok, the priest. The trumpet was then blown, and Solomon was presented to the people and formally accepted as their king. The conspirators about Adonijah were rudely awakened from their dream by the shouts of the people. Adonijah took advantage of the ancient right of altar asylum, thus putting himself under the protection of Jehovah. Solomon, however, in the hour of his triumph granted full pardon to his rival and to those who had opposed his succession.
IV. David’s Dying Injunctions. The original David stories apparently ended with the account of Solomon’s accession. In the subsequent context the author of the books of Kings has given a brief reference to David’s death and the duration of his reign. The popular Solomon traditions, which have been quoted in the earlier part of I Kings, attribute to David certain dying injunctions which were apparently intended to palliate Solomon’s action in putting to death Shimei and Joab. It is, of course, possible that these grim commands were I laid upon Solomon by his dying father. If so, they but reveal the vindictiveness of an old man in his dotage. They are certainly not in harmony with the character of David as portrayed in the earlier narratives. Although a man of war, he had ever showed himself averse to the unnecessary shedding of blood. Loyalty to his supporters and readiness to pardon those who had wronged him were among his most marked characteristics.
V. The Character of David. No character in all the Old Testament is as fully portrayed as that of David. Almost contemporary traditions throw light upon his life at every important stage from boyhood to the grave. His faults are pictured as faithfully as his virtues. They are the faults peculiar to a versatile genius: a lack of absolute truthfulness, a failure in the face of sudden and powerful temptation to control his passions, a selfish fondness for his children, which made him a weak father; these are the glaring faults which overshadow the brilliant virtues of David’s earlier days. Like many another man in the world’s history, he developed rapidly and nobly in the face of hardship and opposition, and fell in the moment of prosperity and success. His life history, therefore, is a tragedy because it failed to realize the promise of his earlier years. That David was truly religious is amply illustrated at every stage in his history. No important act was undertaken without consulting the Deity. His dominant aim was to rule over the people as Jehovah’s representative. His religion, however, was of a conventional and superficial, rather than a profound, type. His conceptions of Jehovah and of his obligations to him were those of his age. Through the priestly oracle he sought to know the will of God. To win his approval, he transferred the ark to Jerusalem and danced before it as an expression of his religious zeal. By the sacrifice of animals, and even by the sacrifice of innocent human beings, he sought to win and retain the approval of the God whom his age worshipped; but for traces of the profound faith of the later prophets and psalmist one seeks in vain.
David’s virtues are many. He was brave, chivalrous, magnanimous and patriotic. He genuinely loved his friends and followers and was passionately loved by them. Tact, insight, excellent organizing ability, made him a successful king, as well as an able leader. He was ambitious for personal glory, but he was also equally ambitious for his race and nation. As poet, patriot, warrior and devout worshipper of Jehovah, he embodied the highest ideals of his age. It is, therefore, not strange that he was idolized by his own and idealized by succeeding generations. His love for Jehovah and his people left little place in his heart for pride and tyranny. He kept always before him the noble Hebrew ideal of the kingship. Except on the one memorable occasion, when he yielded to his own base passion, he ever showed himself the loyal servant of the people. Thus, as a king, he proved, as did no other ruler in early Hebrew history, “a man after God’s own heart.”
VI. David’s Work. In the perspective of history, Saul figures as the great pioneer; but David built well on the foundations which Saul had laid. Under his leadership united Israel became a fixed reality. By closer organization, by sharing together a common capital, by uniting in successful wars against their common foes, rival tribes were led to forget their jealousies and to recognize the bond of common race, ideals and religion. By his foreign conquests David gave to his people peace and prestige, and prepared the way for that development of the resources of the empire and of commerce which quickly followed in the days of Solomon. David also inspired those ideals of kingly justice, as well as of world-wide dominion, which were ever after cherished by the Hebrews and which find frequent echoes in the Messianic predictions of later prophets. In uniting all Israel under one king he also impressed upon his subjects the conception of Jehovah as the one Supreme Ruler over all the different tribes. In conquering the neighboring nations and building up a great empire he laid the foundations of that later monotheism which was proclaimed by the great prophets of the Assyrian period.