I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 1.

    Despite the fact that 2 Samuel wrapped up its account of David’s kingship, there were a few things left which 1 Kings covers as part of introducing us to Solomon’s reign. One of the things which had struck me in previous readings of this passage was that we have no record elsewhere of David promising Bathsheba that Solomon would be king. Which led me to wonder if that promise was made up by Nathan and Bathsheba. However, today as I read it I was struck by the fact that Adonijah invited all of his brothers and half-brothers to join him at his coronation celebration, except for Solomon. This last suggests that there was strong backing for Solomon to succeed David.

    When it became clear that David would not live much longer, and in any case was no longer able to govern because of the infirmities of old age, Adonijah made plans to make himself king. He approached David’s advisers with his plans. Joab and Abiather the priest supported his plans. However, Zadok the priest, Benenaiah, the commander of David’s bodyguard, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, and a few other key advisers refused to support Adonijah. The writer does not tell us exactly what was going on, but a little bit of reading between the lines tells us a few things.
    First, the entire book of 1 Kings starts out by telling us that David was a frail old man. He was so constantly cold that they got him a beautiful virgin to serve as a bed warmer, but David was so frail that she remained a virgin. This is where I get the idea that David was no longer able to govern. The other thing going on was that David had not officially named one of his sons as his heir, as the one to take the throne after him.
    From what we read about Joab I believe he supported Adonijah because he believed that Israel needed a clear successor to rule in David’s place. David had declined to name someone to that role, perhaps even refusing to recognize that his death was fast approaching. Looking at what David’s various advisers did in the crisis I believe that they had tried to get David to choose one of his sons to rule in his place but that David had refused to do so..probably neither side was blatant about their actions. David’s advisers hinted that he should select someone and David ignored their hints.

    It is not clear why Joab and Abiathar supported Adonijah. I am going to assume that they did so because they thought that someone needed to take action about the succession and Adonijah was doing so. On the other hand, I think it is clear why those who refused to support him did so. They did so because Adonijah recognized no limits on himself. Like his older brothers Amnon and Absalom, Adonijah had learned that he could do whatever he pleased. He failed to learn from their fates that there was a limit to what he could get away with. In addition, the passage seems to suggest that David had indicated that he preferred Solomon as his heir.
    Ultimately, Adonijah failed because he sought to raise himself up and Solomon became king because he waited for David to declare him king. Perhaps if Adonijah had waited for David’s death to attempt to seize the throne things would have turned out differently. On the other hand, I suspect that Joab and Abiather advised him to act when he did, in the hopes of avoiding the civil war which they thought would break out if David died without a designated heir.