1 Kings 1:28-37

I. THE CORONATION OF SOLOMON 1:28-53

The impassioned plea of Bathsheba and the timely confirmation of Nathan served to impress the ailing king with the urgency of royal action in favor of Solomon. David decreed that Solomon should immediately be taken to the spring Gihon and anointed king. By this swift action Adonijah's conspiracy was nipped in the bud. In discussing this crucial coronation the author speaks of (1) the authorization by David (1 Kings 1:28-37); (2) the anointing of Solomon (1 Kings 1:38-40); and (3) the apprehension which seized Adonijah and his crew when news of the anointing reached them (1 Kings 1:41-53).

A. THE AUTHORIZATION BY DAVID 1:28-37

In order for Solomon's coronation to be legal and meaningful, the full backing of David was required. Something dramatic and forceful needed to be done quickly. Stirred to action by the reports of Bathsheba and Nathan, David formulated a brilliant plan for countering the clandestine coronation of Adonijah. But even in this crisis David's personal concern for Bathsheba took precedence over political action with regard to Solomon. Recalling his wife to the bedchamber, David solemnly reaffirmed the oath he had made some years earlier that Solomon would succeed him on the throne. Then in some detail he outlined the procedures to be followed in the coronation of Solomon. Benaiah, unable to restrain himself at this delightful turn of events, burst forth in a prayer for the young man who was about to be anointed. This paragraph lends itself to the following analysis: (1) The promise to Bathsheba (1 Kings 1:28-31); (2) the procedure regarding Solomon (1 Kings 1:32-35); and (3) the prayer of Benaiah (1 Kings 1:36-37).

1. THE PROMISES TO BATHSHEBA (1 Kings 1:28-31)

TRANSLATION

(28) And King David answered and said, Summon to me Bathsheba. And she came before the king, and stood before the king. (29) And the king swore and said, As the LORD lives who has redeemed my life from all distress, (30) surely as I swore to you by the LORD God of Israel, saying, Surely Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in place of me; surely thus will I do this day! (31) And Bathsheba bowed with face to the ground, and did homage to the king, and said, May my lord King David live forever!

COMMENTS

David showed no incredulity with regard to the indictment of his eldest son. He seemed to realize that Adonijah is quite capable of entering into just such a conspiracy as had been reported to him. For the moment mustering his physical energies and recapturing that decisiveness which had characterized his reign, David began to act. First, he summoned Bathsheba from a waiting room to which she had retired when Nathan had entered the king's chamber (1 Kings 1:28). Apparently when the king granted an audience to his wife or one of his counselors, no third party was present unless the king required his assistance.[94] In the words of a solemn oath (As the LORD lives) David promised his beloved wife that her son Solomon would succeed him on the throne that very day (1 Kings 1:29-30). In response to this commitment on the part of David, Bathsheba bowed herself to the ground (cf. 1 Kings 1:23) and pronounced a blessing upon a king: May my lord King David live forever! (1 Kings 1:31). Such a blessing, never elsewhere used of a Hebrew monarch, was quite common later in the courts of Babylon and Persia (Daniel 2:4; Nehemiah 2:3, etc.). By these words Bathsheba conveyed to the king the thought that she did not desire his early death, but only the assurance that at the end of his life her son Solomon would follow him on the throne.

[94] Hammond, PC, p. 7.

2. THE PROCEDURE REGARDING SOLOMON (1 Kings 1:32-35)

TRANSLATION

(32) And king David said, Summon to me Zadok the priest, 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 cause Solomon my son to ride upon my mule, and take him down to Gihon. (34) And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there to be king over Israel. Then you shall blow the tram-pet, and say, May King Solomon live! (35) Then go up after him, and he shall come, and sit upon my throne, and he shall reign instead of me; for him I have appointed to be prince over Israel and over Judah.

COMMENTS

True to his word, David took immediate action. Orders were given for Zadok, Nathan and Benaiah to be summoned to the bedside of the king (1 Kings 1:32). From this it would appear that Nathan had withdrawn from the room at the time Bathsheba made her entrance in 1 Kings 1:28. Several specific instructions were given to the high priest, the prophet and the general: (1) They were to gather the servants of David, i.e., his personal bodyguard of mercenary troops called Cherethites and Pelethites (cf. 1 Kings 1:38). The presence of these troops would not only serve as a show of formidable force, but also would indicate that the coronation of Solomon had been authorized by the king. (2) Solomon was to ride on David's own mule. God's law stipulated that Israel's king was not to multiply horses to himself (Deuteronomy 17:16), and it is only in the service of David's wayward sons Absalom and Adonijah that horses are mentioned at this time. While commoners rode on asses (cf. 1 Kings 2:40), the mule was reserved to members of the royal family (cf. 2 Samuel 13:29; 2 Samuel 18:9). None but David had ever been seen to ride on this particular mule. The use of this animal would not only be a mark of honor but would serve notice to the populace all along the processional route that David had designated Solomon as his successor.

David ordered (3) that Solomon be taken down to Gihon for the public anointing (1 Kings 1:33). Some disagreement among scholars exists as to the location of this Gihon, but the best geographers identify it as the Virgin Spring which is in the Kidron valley, east of the old city of Jerusalem.[95] Because of its intermittent character this spring in ancient times was called Gihon which means gusher. During the rainy season this spring gushes forth for forty minutes or so four or five times a day. Because it produces up to 250,000 gallons of water a day, Gihon was vital to the life of Jerusalem from the very earliest times. Today the spring is used as a bathtub by local villagers.

[95] The best discussion is in Smith, JTEH, I, 101-111.

It is not entirely clear why David selected Gihon as the spot for the public anointing of Solomon. In Old Testament times Gihon was on the slope of the City of David somewhat above the bottom of the valley; but in the ensuing years the bottom of the valley has risen practically to the level of the spring. The text certainly does not indicate that the spring had any religious importance.[96] Avi-Yonah has suggested that public ceremonies were held at Gihon because of its life-and-death importance for the capital.[97] This suggestion has some merit particularly in view of the changes in topography which have taken place over the course of the centuries. George Adam Smith captured the feelings of the modern visitor to the spot when he wrote:

[96] J. Simons (JOT, p. 164) contends that the intermittent issue of this spring may have seemed sufficiently inscrutable to lend Gihon a sacred character.
[97] Avi-Yonah and Kraeling, OLB, p. 128.

Upon the heaped rubbish at the foot of the now naked hill Ophel, and amid the squalid bustle which prevails there today, one forgets that this was the scene of Solomon's coronation. But in that day the precipitous rock with the fortress above it, the open cave with the mysterious intermittent fountain. must have formed a fitting theatre for the first coronation of an Israelite King in Jerusalem.[98]

[98] Smith, JTEH, I, 108.

Zadok the high priest and Nathan the most famous prophet of the day were instructed (4) to anoint Solomon as king. The king, like the priest, was a sacred personage and consequently was set apart for his office by the solemn act of being anointed with oil. Sometimes a king would be anointed on more than one occasion. Saul was probably anointed twice (1 Samuel 10:1; 1 Samuel 11:15). David was anointed on three occasions (1 Samuel 16:13; 2 Samuel 2:4; 2 Samuel 5:3). Solomon himself was anointed twice (cf. 1 Chronicles 29:22).

Following the anointing, David ordered (5) that a ram's horn trumpet be blown and Solomon be acclaimed king by means of the standard coronation greeting May King Solomon live! (1 Kings 1:34). The proclamation of a new king seems to have been customarily accompanied by a blast upon trumpets (2 Samuel 15:10; 2 Kings 9:13; 2 Kings 11:14).

At the conclusion of the formal services at Gihon, (6) Solomon was to be escorted back up the steep hill into the capital where he was to sit on the throne of David. In every possible way David was trying to confirm the selection of Solomon. He virtually abdicates in favor of his son.

David closed his instruction to Zadok, Nathan and Benaiah with a formal and emphatic declaration that he had appointed Solomon prince over the United Kingdom (1 Kings 1:35). David used the Hebrew term nagid, literally, one placed in the forefront; hence, a leader, prince or ruler. Saul had been anointed nagid by Samuel (1 Samuel 10:1); he was made king by the people (with Samuel officiating) at Gilgal sometime later (1 Samuel 11:15). Perhaps David could nominate Solomon as nagid, but it was for the people to acclaim him as king. Solomon was to be prince over Israel and Judah. David was keenly aware of the two component parts of this United Kingdom, for he had himself been first king of Judah for over seven years before being recognized by the elders of the other tribes as king of Israel. Furthermore, during his reign he had been forced to suppress an uprising in Judah led by Absalom (2 Samuel 15-19), as well as an Israelite uprising led by Sheba (2 Samuel 20). It was David's hope that both Israel and Judah would recognize Solomon as king simultaneously.

2. THE PRAYER OF BENAIAH (1 Kings 1:36-37)

TRANSLATION

(36) And Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen! Thus may the LORD God of my lord the king say! (37) As the LORD was with my lord the king, so may He be with Solomon, and make his throne become greater than the throne of my lord King David.

COMMENTS

Benaiah responded to the king's order with an expression of hearty consent and a prayer for God's approval of what had been ordered. Amen was a legal term of endorsement (cf. Deuteronomy 27:15 ff). The thought in 1 Kings 1:36 is that God always performs His word. If David's word is also God's word, it is sure to be accomplished.

Benaiah's support of Solomon was essential. With most of the military leaders backing Adonijah, it is doubtful that Solomon could have succeeded his father without the strong backing of the palace guard. All present in the royal bedchamber on that fateful day must have been greatly relieved when Benaiah's response to the orders of his commander-in-chief was not merely perfunctory, but rather enthusiastic. This pious soldier realized that God had been with David, and he publicly prayed that God would make the throne of Solomon greater than that of his father (1 Kings 1:37). History records that God answered that prayer in a most wondrous way.