1 Kings 1:1-15
Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat. Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.
Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother bare him after Absalom. And he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest: and they following Adonijah helped him.
But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men which belonged to David, were not with Adonijah. And Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fat cattle by the stone of Zoheleth, which is by Enrogel, and called all his brethren the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah the king’s servants: But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not.
Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Hast thou not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith doth reign, and David our lord knoweth it not? Now therefore come, let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon. Go and get thee in unto king David, and say unto him, Didst not thou, my lord, O king, swear unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? why then doth Adonijah reign? Behold, while thou yet talkest there with the king, I also will come in after thee, and confirm thy words.
And Bathsheba went in unto the king into the chamber: and the king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite ministered unto the king.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): They who come to old age, must expect the burden of infirmities which attend it.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Old age as well as youth has its own particular snares—the infirmities of the former place them more in the power of their juniors and they are apt to yield to arrangements which their consciences condemn. But while the aged need to guard against irritability and a domineering spirit, yet on the other hand, they must not be a willing party to that which they know is wrong.
THE EDITOR: David was “very old,” and “gat no heat,” which indicates he had very poor blood circulation; that “he knew her not,” suggests his condition and old age, perhaps had also made him sexually incapable. Bathsheba, and David’s other wives who may have been still alive, were also old and probably unsuitable to provide the robust physical body heat and constant ministrations that David’s health required, and there were no electric blankets in those days. Therefore, his counsellors devised another arrangement to get him warmth.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): “They sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel.” Not only a damsel, but a beautiful one—that she might be the more acceptable to the king; who otherwise, if deformed and ugly, would not have endured her in his sight, or received at her hands, and much less suffered her to lie in his bosom.
THOMAS COKE: If it be asked, how the beauty of the person to be employed for this purpose was concerned in David’s health; I answer, that the beauty here required, is evidently beauty of complexion, which, as it indicates the health and temperament of the body, might be of importance in this case.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): “Let her lie in thy bosom,”—in a medicinal way, to work heat in thy cold body, whilst she lieth with thee as a wife or concubine: else they would never have advised it, nor David have taken their counsel.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): They foolishly prescribed nuptials to one that should rather have been preparing for his funeral—but his prophets should have been consulted as well as his physicians in an affair of this nature.
A. W. PINK: The Lord’s displeasure against David’s weakness in consenting to the carnal counsel of his friends, is plainly marked in the immediate sequel. Serious trouble now arose from yet another of his sons. It is true that this was the fruit of his earlier laxity in ruling his children, for he was much too easy-going with them: yet the time when this impious insubordination occurred leaves us in no doubt that it is to be regarded as a divine chastening of David for being a party to such a questionable procedure. “Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.” Nothing is more conspicuous throughout the whole history of David than that, whenever a believer sows to the flesh, he will most certainly of the flesh reap corruption; and another solemn example of this is here before us.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): It was no wonder that Adonijah disturbed the dying moments of David when we read that, “his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why have you done so?” Nor need we marvel that Absalom almost broke his father’s heart if this was the manner of his bringing up!
A. W. PINK: But like Absalom before him, Adonijah reckoned without God. And Joab, as we have seen in other connections, was a thoroughly unprincipled ungodly man, and no doubt the impious Adonijah was more congenial to his disposition than Solomon would be. Moreover if this son of Haggith obtained the kingdom, then his own position would be secure, and he would not be displaced.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): Joab had been steadily drifting away from David for years. His fierce temper could not stand the king’s displeasure because of his murders of Abner and Amasa, and his slaying of Absalom had made the breach irreparable; and Joab’s old comrade in many a fight, Benaiah, had stepped into the place which he had once filled. Joab commanded the native-born Israelites; Benaiah, the ‘Cherethites and Pelethites,’ now generally regarded as foreign mercenaries—they were David’s bodyguard, and were probably as heartily hated by Joab and the other Israelite soldiers as they were trusted by David, 1 Kings 1:8,38. So there were reasons enough for Joab’s abetting an insurrection. He wanted to be indispensable, and would prop the throne as long as its occupant looked only to him as its defender.
MATTHEW HENRY: We have here the effectual endeavours that were used by Nathan and Bathsheba to obtain from David a ratification of Solomon’s succession, for the crushing of Adonijah’s usurpation.
THE EDITOR: Bathsheba went into the king, and followed Nathan’s advice precisely; then Nathan confirmed it, saying, “Behold, they eat and drink before him, and say, God save king Adonijah,” 1 Kings 1:16-27.
MATTHEW HENRY: To Bathsheba, the king repeats his former promise and oath, that he had “sworn unto her by the Lord God of Israel that Solomon would reign after him.” Though he is old, and his memory begins to fail him, yet he remembers this: An oath is so sacred a thing that the obligations of it cannot be broken, and so solemn a thing that the impressions of it cannot be forgotten. He ratifies it with another, because the occasion called for it: “As the Lord liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, even so will I certainly do this day,” without dispute, without delay, 1 Kings 1:30.
THE EDITOR: No Bible text reveals when David made that previous promise to Bathsheba. But he definitely had God’s mind on it when he said it, as 1 Chronicles 28:1-5 proves; thus his oath was neither hasty, nor presumptuous. Now it was “a time to break down” Adonijah’s coup d’etat before it could spread, Ecclesiastes 3:3—and David did not hesitate.
JOHN GILL: David “said unto them, take ye the servants of your lord,”—meaning his bodyguards, the Cherethites and Pelethites; “And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon,” 1 Kings 1:33,34—all of which was done before Adonijah and his guests rose from the table; “and when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, wherefore is this noise of the city being in an uproar?”
THE EDITOR: When Adonijah heard that “our lord king David hath made Solomon king,” they all fled. “And it was told Solomon, Behold, Adonijah feareth king Solomon: for, lo, he hath caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear unto me to day that he will not slay his servant with the sword. If he will shew himself a worthy man,” Solomon replied, “there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth: but if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die,” 1 Kings 1:42-52. Most kings would have executed such a rival immediately, but Solomon understood that “the throne is established by righteousness, Proverbs 16:12—and mercy,” Isaiah 16:5.
