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Chapter 1: The Intrigues at David's Court and Solomon becomes King of Israel
1 Kings 1:1-4 ~ The last days of David
All the events in chapter 1 take place within the span of a single day. The once mighty David who killed Goliath when he was only a youth and established Israel as a powerful nation in the ancient Near East whose borders stretched from the Euphrates River to the boundary with Egypt in the Sinai is now frail and bedridden. His circulation is so bad that he is constantly cold and it is decided that he needs a young woman to take care of him. Abishag is a beautiful young woman from a town in northern Israel located near the Plain of Jezreel in the tribal territory of Issachar. It is significant that verse 4 establishes that the young woman did not have intimate relations with the king. She is neither a wife nor a sexual partner; she is his nurse.
Question: Approximately how old is David as he nears the end of his life? See 2 Sam 5:4
Answer: If David was anointed King of Israel when he was 30 years old and ruled the United Kingdom of Israel for 33 years, he is now about 63 years old. If, however, the passage is interpreted to read that he was 30 years old when he became king of Judah and ruled for a total of 40 years, he is now 70 years old.
1 Kings 1:5-10 ~ The intrigues of Adonijah
Adonijah is the fourth of David's sons and assumes that since he is the eldest living heir that he will inherit his father's throne (1 Kng 2:15). His elder half-brothers Amnon (first born) and Absalom (third born) are dead and another brother, Chileab (second son), is only mentioned in the list of sons born in Hebron and is therefore believed to have died as a child (see 2 Sam 3:2-5). However, there was no law designating the eldest son as the king's heir. In most ancient Near Eastern kingdoms, the eldest son was understood to be the heir with the strongest claim to succeed his father; however, a dying king was within his rights to designate another son to succeed him.
Verse 9 describes the slaughtering of animals for a royal banquet given by Adonijah for his supporters. It is not a religious act. The site of the banquet was a spring southeast of Jerusalem just beyond the confluence of the Kidron and Hinnon Valleys on the border between the tribal lands of Benjamin and Judah and just out of sight of the city of David in Jerusalem (see 2 Sam 7:17). The area around the spring could easily have accommodated a large gathering. The site had also served as a rendezvous point for David's men during Absalom's revolt (2 Sam 17:17).
Adonijah has plans to have his kingship confirmed by an oligarchy of a priest (Abiathar), a commanding general (Joab), the Davidic princes and tribal leaders. He does not invite David's most loyal supporters or the prince he must realize is David's favored son, Solomon. The place name translated "Sliding Stone" in verse 9 can also be translated "Serpent's Stone" and may be the "Dragon's Fountain" that is mentioned in Nehemiah 2:13. It is a fitting name for a place where a disobedient son seeks to overturn the will of his father and the will of God (1 Chr 28:5).
1 Kings 1:11-14 ~ Nathan's plan
When Nathan becomes aware of Adonijah's plan, he immediately went to Solomon's mother, Bathsheba, the favorite wife and formerly the young woman who was the center of David's first great scandal in 2 Samuel 11:1-12:25. It was Nathan who confronted David concerning his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and in arranging the death of her husband when she became pregnant. God punished David for his sins by allowing the innocent child conceived in sin to die (God did not condemn the innocent child for the sins of his parents), but when David repented, God also forgave him (2 Sam 12:13-15). It was Nathan who named Bathsheba and David's next son Jedidah [in Hebrerw = Yedidyah means "beloved of Yahweh"], as God had instructed him, a sign of God's forgiveness, but Bathsheba called her son Solomon [Selomoh], a name derived from the Hebrew word salom, meaning "peace" (2 Sam 12:24-25).
Question: What strategy does Nathan give Bathsheba to defeat Adonijah's bid for the throne?
Answer: She is to go to David and remind him of his oath that Solomon is to be his successor.
The events recorded in 1 Chronicles 22:5-19 are prior to this time period when David is so feeble and prior to Solomon's coronation. That passage records that God selected Solomon to be David's heir and informed David that He had chosen Solomon to be the man to build Yahweh's Temple in Jerusalem (1 Chr 22:7-10). It was at that time that David made a public announcement that Solomon was to be his heir and the next King of Israel. That passage is followed by Solomon's coronation in chapter 23. Jewish tradition records that Solomon was only 14 years old when he became king.
1 Kings 1:15-27 ~ Bathsheba goes to David
Notice that Queen Bathsheba has direct access to the king but Nathan must be announced before coming into the king's presence.
When it is announced that Nathan seeks an audience with the king, Bathsheba withdraws so it is not obvious that they have not conspired to reveal Adonijah's treachery but are independently coming to warn the king.
1 Kings 1:28-40 ~ David orders that Solomon is to be anointed King of Israel
David arranges for Solomon's coronation by charging the priest Zadok, his court prophet Nathan, and the commander of the royal guard to see that his wishes are carried out. Riding on the kings mount is a symbolic gesture of succession.
The joyful clamor of the crowd is compared to the rumblings of an earthquake. The trumpet was the ram's horn, called a shofar. It was the same trumpet that sounded the call to battle for the armies of Israel (Ex 19:13, 16; Judg 3:27; Josh 6:5; Hos 5:8; Neh 4:12), and it was blown to announce the coronation of kings (2 Sam 15:10; 2 Kng 9:13; 10:12, 14). The jubilant cry of the people was in Hebrew "Hosanna!" It is the same cry of the crowds for Jesus on Palm Sunday in AD 30 and has the meaning of "long live" or "save us." As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday the people shout "Hosanna to the son of David!" (Mt 21:9) and "Hosanna! Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel" (Jn 12:13). It is the same joyous cry of the faithful in the celebration of the Mass just prior to the words of consecration as we prepare welcome Christ the king in the Eucharist.
1 Kings 1:41-48 ~ Adonijah receives news of Solomon's coronation
The coronation is taking place on the same side of the city where Adonijah is holding his banquet. Adonijah's banquet is outside the city but the guests can hear the trumpets and the shouting of the crowd. Joab, being a military leader, immediately recognizes the sound of the shofar that is used to call Israel's soldiers to war: 41b Joab too heard the sound of the trumpet and said, "What is that noise of uproar in the city?"
1 Kings 1:49-53 ~ Adonijah's terror and Solomon's offer of amnesty
Hearing of the coronation of Solomon, the members of the banquet quickly made their departure and Adonijah ran to seek sanctuary at Yahweh's altar of sacrifice on Mount Moriah (1 Chr 21:18; 2 Chr 3:1). The altar had four sides and protrusions at each corner called "horns" (Ex 27:1-2; 30:2). Since the atoning blood of the sacrificed animals was sprinkled on the horns of the altar, the horns were considered to be the most sacred part of the altar (Lev 4:7, 25). According to the law, a man accused of manslaughter might seek temporary asylum at the altar until he could be brought to trial (Ex 21:14). In Adonijah's case, he used the altar for political asylum.
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A Daily Defense
DAY 143 Genocide in the Bible (1)
CHALLENGE:"How can you believe the Bible when it contains passages in which God commands the extermination of whole peoples (Deut. 7:1–2, 20:16–17)?"
DEFENSE: The answer depends on whether or not those passages are meant to be taken literally.
Tomorrow we will consider the view that the commands are non-literal. Here we will consider the view that they are meant literally.
According to this view, God expected the Israelites to kill certain peoples for two reasons. First, “according to what is attested in the Bible, the Canaanites are seen by God as guilty of very serious crimes (Gen. 15:16; Lev. 18:3, 24–30, 20:23; Deut. 9:4–5, etc.), among which is the killing of their own children in perverted rituals (Deut. 12:31, 18:10–12). The narrative, then, holds out the prospect of the execution of divine justice in history” (Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture 127).
Second, the text indicates if these cultures survived, they would corrupt the Israelites with these immoral practices (Deut. 7:4, 20:18). This danger was seen as so severe that, given the conditions in the ancient world, the only effective way to prevent it was extermination. And, in fact, the Israelites were so corrupted.
If the literal view is accurate, how could God issue these commands?
It is worth pointing out that all life is a gift from God. We do not have a right to it. God has a right to determine how much of that gift we receive and when and how it ends. Thus St. Thomas Aquinas writes, “All men alike, both guilty and innocent, die the death of nature: which death of nature is inflicted by the power of God on account of original sin, according to 1 Samuel 2:6: ‘The Lord killeth and maketh alive.’ Consequently, by the command of God, death can be inflicted on any man, guilty or innocent, without any injustice whatever” (ST I–II:94:5 reply to obj. 2).
Further, death is not the end. Whatever the circumstances of a particular death, it is a finite evil. Eternity lies before us, and God is capable of more than compensating the innocent who have suffered or died (see Day 38).
The actions commanded in these verses are not for our day but, according to this view, they do not involve injustice.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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