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1Ki_1:1-11; 1 Chronicles 28-29
It was by this time well and generally known, that Solomon was the nominated successor. But Adonijah, the eldest surviving son of David, a very comely man, and much beloved by his father, formed the resolution of securing the crown for himself. He must have been as old again as Solomon; yet had David lived until the latter had come to fuller years, and become better known to the people, it is likely that Adonijah would have acquiesced; but finding his father at the point of death when Solomon was scarcely out of his nonage, seems to have encouraged his hopes, that by prompt and decisive measures he might secure the crown for himself. He felt strong in his riper years, in his right of primogeniture, in the absence of any evil design against his father, in the supposed good feeling of the people towards his claim, and in the support it had from many old servants of the state, who had been faithful to David in all his troubles. Among these were persons of no less weight than Joab, the commander of the army, and Abiathar, one of the high-priests, who, indeed, are named as his chief abettors. His policy was to anticipate Solomon, by causing himself to be proclaimed king before his father’s death. It was probably calculated that David was too far gone to interfere to any purpose, and that, when the thing was done, and in favor of a son he loved so well, he would acquiesce in it as a fact accomplished.
So Adonijah made a great sacrificial feast in the gardens outside Mount Zion, in which lay the fountain of En-Rogel, and invited to it all the king’s sons except Solomon, and all the king’s servants and officers, except those known to be in the interests of his young rival. Among the latter are particularly named Zadok the high-priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the captain of the guard, and the “mighty men,” or select band of “worthies,” which we have had repeated occasion to mention. The necessity for such exceptions, of which he was himself aware, was ominous for the cause of Adonijah. Not to speak of the “worthies,” the influence of Zadok in the church was at least equal to that of Abiathar; and although the name of Joab seems more than a counter-balance for that of Benaiah, yet its immediate value was probably less, as the body-guard, which the latter commanded, constituted the main part of the army constantly under arms, and doubtless the only part then present at the capital.
Intending to assume the honors of royalty, Adonijah proceeded to the feast in high state, with chariots and out-runners, like Absalom. He was hailed with enthusiasm as king by the assembled guests.
These proceedings had not passed unobserved. The friends of Solomon saw that no time was to be lost. Nathan, in particular, who had been the means of making known the Lord’s will to David, felt that his office and character required him to interfere. Fearing to agitate the king too abruptly in his present feeble state, he went to Bathsheba, and induced her to go and break to him a matter that so nearly concerned the interests and even safety of her son. She accordingly went to the chamber of David, and “bowed, and did obeisance unto the king.” Knowing that she had not come unbidden without some important cause, he inquired her errand—the etiquette which had by this time grown up at court requiring that she should not speak until the king had spoken. The manner of the thing was much the same as when Esther appeared before the king of “a hundred and seven and twenty provinces.” Thus permitted to speak, Bathsheba performed a mother’s part well. She repeated what she had learned, and reminded the king of his promise that Solomon should be king after himself. When she had finished, and before David could answer, the prophet Nathan was announced, as had been arranged between him and Bathsheba, and the latter then withdrew, but remained within call. Nathan confirmed Bathsheba’s statement by a more particular recital of what was going on outside the city, and asked if this was done by his authority and with his concurrence. The greatness of the exigency roused the king to clear-minded and decisive action. His body was bowed down for death by age, and feebleness; but his mind could go forth freely and vigorously into all the circumstances, and apprehend all that so great an occasion required. He desired Bathsheba to be called in; and at once, without any question or circumlocution, pledged himself by oath to see his original intentions carried out. His words were solemn and impressive—“As Jehovah liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, even as I sware unto thee, by the Lord God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead, even so will I certainly do this day.”
Accordingly, she had no sooner departed, gladdened by the assurance, than he sent for Zadok, Nathan, and Benaiah, and directed them at once to mount Solomon upon his own mule of state, and to escort him, with all the royal servants and the guards, down to Gihon, which lay in the valley on the west side of the city, Adonijah’s party being in the valley to the north-east. There Zadok was to anoint him king, with the sacred oil from the tabernacle, and with a royal flourish of trumpets they were to proclaim, “Long live king Solomon.” This was a sagacious and most effective movement, exactly suited to the circumstances, and shows, that while the king’s natural strength was prostrated, his intellect remained quick and unclouded to the last.
All was done as the king had directed. The open march of so stately a procession, with the official sanction which the presence of the royal guards, and the king’s own mule, conferred, together with the engaging youth of the prince, drew a large and popular concourse with the train to Gihon, where the inauguration took place, as David had directed. The operation was so sudden, that the city had scarcely been aware of it till the procession returned, with Solomon as king. He was then hailed by the citizens with intense acclamation. “The people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rung with the sound of them.” The joyful uproar in the city even reached the ears of the banqueters at En-Rogel. They were not left long in doubt as to the purport of this joyous clamor; for Abiathar’s son, Jonathan, came with a full account of the proceedings in the city and at Gihon. His first words must have filled them with dismay—“Our lord king David hath made Solomon king!” The transactions lost nothing in Jonathan’s report, which he carried down to what followed the return of the coronation procession into the city. “Solomon sitteth on the throne of the kingdom. Moreover the king’s servants came to bless [congratulate] our lord king David, saying: God make the name of Solomon greater than thy name, and his throne greater than thy throne.” At this, according to Jonathan, the king bowed upon the bed and said—“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who hath given one to sit upon my throne this day, mine eyes even seeing it.”
On hearing this successful master-stroke, by which their fine plan was at once blown to pieces, the banqueters dispersed in dismay. Adonijah himself, in dread of Solomon’s vengeance, hastened to the tabernacle, and put himself in sanctuary by taking hold of the horns of the altar, which he refused to quit unless Solomon should swear not to slay him. Solomon, who was now really and de facto king, David being but a dying ceremony, behaved himself in this initiatory act of power with a dignity and discretion beyond his years. He tacitly declined to take an oath, but said—“If he will show himself a worthy man, there shall not a hair of him fall to the earth; but if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die.” On this assurance Adonijah quitted his asylum, and “came and bowed himself to king Solomon,” who coldly bade him, “Go to thine house,”—thus remanding him for the present to the retirement of private life. The eastern mind is familiar with such transactions and contrasts, and does not pay much heed to them; but as Adonijah does not seem to have been a wicked man, or to have had any other design than the assertion of what he conceived to be his rights, in which be was supported by the oldest friends of his father, we must confess to some sympathy for him, a man of little less than forty years old, standing in this position before his brother—a boy in comparison with him. Still, keeping hard to the principles of the Hebrew institutions, our judgment is with Solomon.
In the two last chapters of the First Book of Chronicles, there is an account (not given in the First Book of Kings) of a farewell address delivered by David in the presence of the assembled people and of Solomon. It was his last public appearance, and his last regal act. It took place, doubtless, between the events last noticed and his death. He had probably been so invigorated by the excitement which he had gone through, that he felt himself equal to this proceeding, which appears to have been in the presence of the people, and therefore in the open air, and not to a few in the privacy of his chamber. It may be added, that the appearance of a sick or dying man in the open air is by no means so unusual or dangerous a procedure as it would be in such a climate as ours. But David was past all danger, for he knew he was to die. This noble address, full of striking passages, has regard chiefly to Solomon’s nomination by the Lord, from among all his sons, as the one to reign, and to build the temple. He described his own exertions, and the liberal contributions of the people towards that object. For himself he took no credit—all he had was the Lord’s, and he had but given him his own. He ended with an impressive prayer, and then called upon his audience to bless the Lord, which they did with bowed heads. There was then a great sacrifice—a thousand each of bullocks, rams, and lambs—to supply a feast for the people. It was on this occasion, seemingly, that Solomon, while his father yet lived, was in the presence of the people assembled from all parts, anointed “a second time,” in a more regular and formal manner. This mention of a second anointing in a narrative that does not record the first, and description of the first in a narrative that takes no notice of the second, is an incidental corroboration of great value.
In several passages of this address, the dying king and father spoke directly to Solomon, in words worthy of his high character and illustrious name, showing that the lamp of his inner life—the life of his soul—burned up brightly before he expired. These are golden words—“And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts. If thou seek Him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake Him, he will cast thee off forever.” More nearly at the point of death, David had another and final interview with his son, in which he delivered to him another and more private charge, introduced with the remarkable words—“I go the way of all the earth; be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man.”
There was nothing now left for David but to die. So “he died, in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor; and Solomon his son reigned in his stead.”