1 Kings 1

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1When King David was old and well advanced in years, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him.

2So his servants said to him, “Let us look for a young virgin to attend the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm.”

3Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful girl and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

4The girl was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no intimate relations with her.

5Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, “I will be king.” So he got chariots and horses ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him.

6(His father had never interfered with him by asking, “Why do you behave as you do?” He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.)

7Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they gave him their support.

8But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and Rei and David's special guard did not join Adonijah.

9Adonijah then sacrificed sheep, cattle and fattened calves at the Stone of Zoheleth near En Rogel. He invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah who were royal officials,

10but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the special guard or his brother Solomon.

11Then Nathan asked Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, “Have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has become king without our lord David's knowing it?

12Now then, let me advise you how you can save your own life and the life of your son Solomon.

13Go in to King David and say to him, ‘My lord the king, did you not swear to me your servant: “Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne”? Why then has Adonijah become king?’

14While you are still there talking to the king, I will come in and confirm what you have said.”

15So Bathsheba went to see the aged king in his room, where Abishag the Shunammite was attending him.

16Bathsheba bowed low and knelt before the king. “What is it you want?” the king asked.

17She said to him, “My lord, you yourself swore to me your servant by the Lord your God: ‘Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne.’

18But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, do not know about it.

19He has sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the king's sons, Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon your servant.

20My lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to learn from you who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

21Otherwise, as soon as my lord the king is laid to rest with his fathers, I and my son Solomon will be treated as criminals.”

22While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived.

23And they told the king, “Nathan the prophet is here.” So he went before the king and bowed with his face to the ground.

24Nathan said, “Have you, my lord the king, declared that Adonijah shall be king after you, and that he will sit on your throne?

25Today he has gone down and sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep. He has invited all the king's sons, the commanders of the army and Abiathar the priest. Right now they are eating and drinking with him and saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’

26But me your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon he did not invite.

27Is this something my lord the king has done without letting his servants know who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”

28Then King David said, “Call in Bathsheba.” So she came into the king's presence and stood before him.

29The king then took an oath: “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble,

30I will surely carry out today what I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel: Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place.”

31Then Bathsheba bowed low with her face to the ground and, kneeling before the king, said, “May my lord King David live forever!”

32King David said, “Call in Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.” When they came before the king,

33he said to them: “Take your lord's servants with you and set Solomon my son on my own mule and take him down to Gihon.

34There have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel. Blow the trumpet and shout, ‘Long live King Solomon!’

35Then you are to go up with him, and he is to come and sit on my throne and reign in my place. I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah.”

36Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king, “Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, so declare it.

37As the Lord was with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon to make his throne even greater than the throne of my lord King David!”

38So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and put Solomon on King David's mule and escorted him to Gihon.

39Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!”

40And all the people went up after him, playing flutes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound.

41Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they were finishing their feast. On hearing the sound of the trumpet, Joab asked, “What's the meaning of all the noise in the city?”

42Even as he was speaking, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest arrived. Adonijah said, “Come in. A worthy man like you must be bringing good news.”

43“Not at all!” Jonathan answered. “Our lord King David has made Solomon king.

44The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and they have put him on the king's mule,

45and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon. From there they have gone up cheering, and the city resounds with it. That's the noise you hear.

46Moreover, Solomon has taken his seat on the royal throne.

47Also, the royal officials have come to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God make Solomon's name more famous than yours and his throne greater than yours!’ And the king bowed in worship on his bed

48and said, ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has allowed my eyes to see a successor on my throne today.’ ”

49At this, all Adonijah's guests rose in alarm and dispersed.

50But Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, went and took hold of the horns of the altar.

51Then Solomon was told, “Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon and is clinging to the horns of the altar. He says, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’ ”

52Solomon replied, “If he shows himself to be a worthy man, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he will die.”

53Then King Solomon sent men, and they brought him down from the altar. And Adonijah came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon said, “Go to your home.”

Commentary

Now King David was old, [and] stricken in years,.... Was seventy years of age; for he was thirty years of age when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years, 2Sa 5:4; this was just the age of man, Ps 90:10;

and they covered him with clothes; not wearing apparel, but bed clothes; he seems to have been bedridden and paralytic:

but he got no heat; by them; having no natural heat in him, clothes could not communicate any to him, only keep the cold from him, see Hag 1:6; there are many persons at the age he was, that are lively, healthful, and robust, comparatively speaking at least; but David's strength was impaired, and his natural force abated by his many wars, fatigues by night and day in campaigns, and the many sorrows and afflictions he met with from his family and his friends, as well as enemies; which exhausted his natural moisture, weakened his nerves, and drank up his spirits, and brought upon him the infirmities of a decrepit old age very soon.

1:1-4 We have David sinking under infirmities. He was chastised for his recent sins, and felt the effects of his former toils and hardships.

1:1 Old - Being in the end of his seventieth year. No heat - Which is not strange in a person who had been exercised with so many hardships in war, and with such tormenting cares, and fears, and sorrows, for his own sins (as divers of his Psalms witness) and for the sins and miseries of his children and people. Besides, this might be from the nature of his bodily distemper.

THE FIRST BOOK OF THE KINGS, COMMONLY CALLED THE THIRD BOOK OF THE KINGS. Commentary by Robert Jamieson CHAPTER 11Ki 1:1-4. Abishag Cherishes David in His Extreme Age.1, 2. Now king David was old—He was in the seventieth year of his age (2Sa 5:4, 5). But the wear and tear of a military life, bodily fatigue, and mental care, had prematurely, if we may say it, exhausted the energies of David's strong constitution (1Sa 16:12). In modern Palestine and Egypt the people, owing to the heat of the climate, sleep each in a "separate" bed. They only depart from this practice for medical reasons (Ec 4:11). The expedient recommended by David's physicians is the regimen still prescribed in similar cases in the East, particularly among the Arab population, not simply to give heat, but "to cherish," as they are aware that the inhalation of young breath will give new life and vigor to the worn-out frame. The fact of the health of the young and healthier person being, as it were, stolen to support that of the more aged and sickly is well established among the medical faculty. And hence the prescription for the aged king was made in a hygienic point of view for the prolongation of his valuable life, and not merely for the comfort to be derived from the natural warmth imparted to his withered frame [Porter, Tent and Khan]. The polygamy of the age and country may account for the introduction of this practice; and it is evident that Abishag was made a concubine or secondary wife to David (see on [282]1Ki 2:22).

An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of The First Book of Kings Many histories are books of kings and their reigns, to which the affairs of their kingdoms are reduced; this is a piece of honour that has commonly been paid to crowned heads. The holy Scripture is the history of the kingdom of God among men, under the several administrations of it; but there the King is one and his name one. The particular history now before us accounts for the affairs of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, yet with special regard to the kingdom of God among them; for still it is a sacred history, much more instructive and not less entertaining than any of the histories of the kings of the earth, to which (those of them that are of any certainty) it is prior in time; for though there were kings in Edom before there was any king in Israel, Gen. 36:31 (foreigners, in that point of state, got the precedency), yet the history of the kings of Israel lives, and will live, in holy Writ, to the end of the world, whereas that of the kings of Edom is long since buried in oblivion; for the honour that comes from God is durable, while the honour of the world is like a mushroom, which comes up in a night and perishes in a night.—The Bible began with the story of patriarchs, and prophets, and judges, men whose converse with heaven was more immediate, the record of which strengthens our faith, but is not so easily accommodated to our case, now that we expect not visions, as the subsequent history of affairs like ours under the direction of common providence; and here also we find, though not many types and figures of the Messiah, yet great expectations of him; for not only prophets, but kings, desired to see the great mysteries of the gospel, Lu. 10:24—The two books of Samuel are introductions to the books of the Kings, as they relate the origin of the royal government in Saul and of the royal family in David. These two books give us an account of David’s successor, Solomon, the division of his kingdom, and the succession of the several kings both of Judah and Israel, with an abstract of their history down to the captivity. And as from the book of Genesis we may collect excellent rules of economics, for the good governing of families, so from these books we may collect rules of politics, for the directing of public affairs. There is in these books special regard had to the house and lineage of David, from which Christ came. Some of his sons trod in his steps, and others did not.

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Translations8 · 5

AMHEVG ንጉሡ ዳዊትም ሸመገለ ዕድሜውም በዛ፤ ልብስም ደረቡለት፥ ነገር ግን አይሞቀውም ነበር። አማርኛ BCV ንጉስ ዳዊት ሸምገለ፤ ዕድሚኡውን ነውሐ፤ ክዳውንቲ እንተ ደረቡሉኳ ኽመውቕ ኣይከኣለን። ትግርኛ GAZBIB Bara Daawit mootichi baay'ee dulloometti, hojjetoonni isaa “Itti haa ho'u” jedhanii uffata sobbooqa utuma itti uffisani… Afaan Oromoo BCV GIZ ወዳዊትሰ ንጉሥ ልህቀ ወኀለፈ መዋዕሊሁ ወይከድንዎ አልባሰ ወኢያመውቆ። giz GAZGAZ Bara Daawit mootichi baay'ee dulloometti, hojjetoonni isaa “Itti haa ho'u” jedhanii uffata sobbooqa utuma itti uffisani… Afaan Oromoo BCV aksum ንጉስ ዳዊት ሸምገለ፤ ዕድሚኡውን ነውሐ፤ ክዳውንቲ እንተ ደረቡሉኳ ኽመውቕ ኣይከኣለን። ትግርኛ AMHNIV ንጉሥ ዳዊት እየሸመገለና ዕድሜው በጣም እየገፋ ሲሄድ፣ ልብስ ቢደራርቡለትም እንኳ ሊሞቀው አልቻለም። አማርኛ SWAHSUV Mfalme Daudi alikuwa mzee, mkongwe katika siku zake, nao wakamfunika nguo, lakini asipate moto. Kiswahili