--- title: "1 Kings 1 - Study King James Bible with the church pulpit commentary" description: "Read 1 Kings 1 with the church pulpit commentary commentary. 1 Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat. 2 Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there b" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/1-kings/1" --- [ Read](/kjv/1-kings/1)[ Commentary](/study/1-kings/1)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/1-kings/1) Audio 1 Now king David was old *and* stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat.* 2 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.*** 3 So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. 4 And the damsel *was* very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not. 5 ¶ 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.* 6 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.* 7 And he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest: and they following Adonijah helped *him*.** 8 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. 9 And Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fat cattle by the stone of Zoheleth, which *is* by En-rogel, and called all his brethren the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah the king’s servants:* 10 But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not. 11 ¶ Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Hast thou not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith doth reign, and David our lord knoweth *it* not? 12 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. 13 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? 14 Behold, while thou yet talkest there with the king, I also will come in after thee, and confirm thy words.* 15 ¶ And Bath-sheba went in unto the king into the chamber: and the king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite ministered unto the king. 16 And Bath-sheba bowed, and did obeisance unto the king. And the king said, What wouldest thou?* 17 And she said unto him, My lord, thou swarest by the LORD thy God unto thine handmaid, *saying*, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne. 18 And now, behold, Adonijah reigneth; and now, my lord the king, thou knowest *it* not: 19 And he hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the host: but Solomon thy servant hath he not called. 20 And thou, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel *are* upon thee, that thou shouldest tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21 Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.* 22 ¶ And, lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in. 23 And they told the king, saying, Behold Nathan the prophet. And when he was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. 24 And Nathan said, My lord, O king, hast thou said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? 25 For he is gone down this day, and hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the king’s sons, and the captains of the host, and Abiathar the priest; and, behold, they eat and drink before him, and say, God save king Adonijah.* 26 But me, *even* me thy servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and thy servant Solomon, hath he not called. 27 Is this thing done by my lord the king, and thou hast not shewed *it* unto thy servant, who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him? 28 ¶ Then king David answered and said, Call me Bath-sheba. And she came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king.* 29 And the king sware, and said, *As* the LORD liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, 30 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. 31 Then Bath-sheba bowed with *her* face to the earth, and did reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live for ever. 32 ¶ And king David said, Call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king. 33 The king also said unto them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon:* 34 And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon. 35 Then ye shall come up after him, that he may come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my stead: and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah. 36 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen: the LORD God of my lord the king say so *too*. 37 As the LORD hath been with my lord the king, even so be he with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David. 38 So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride upon king David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon. 39 And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon. 40 And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them.* 41 ¶ And Adonijah and all the guests that *were* with him heard *it* as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, Wherefore *is this* noise of the city being in an uproar? 42 And while he yet spake, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came: and Adonijah said unto him, Come in; for thou *art* a valiant man, and bringest good tidings. 43 And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Verily our lord king David hath made Solomon king. 44 And the king hath sent with him Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and they have caused him to ride upon the king’s mule: 45 And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon: and they are come up from thence rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This *is* the noise that ye have heard. 46 And also Solomon sitteth on the throne of the kingdom. 47 And moreover the king’s servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, God make the name of Solomon better than thy name, and make his throne greater than thy throne. And the king bowed himself upon the bed. 48 And also thus said the king, Blessed *be* the LORD God of Israel, which hath given *one* to sit on my throne this day, mine eyes even seeing *it*. 49 And all the guests that *were* with Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way. 50 ¶ And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. 51 And it was told Solomon, saying, 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. 52 And Solomon said, If he will shew himself a worthy man, there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth: but if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die. 53 So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and bowed himself to king Solomon: and Solomon said unto him, Go to thine house. [2 Samuel 24](/study/2-samuel/24) [1 Kings 2](/study/1-kings/2) ## Commentary To verse 1 *A TROUBLED OLD AGE* **‘Old and stricken in years.’** ** [1 Kings 1:1](/kjv/1-kings/1/1)** ** With the transition from 2 Samuel to 1 Kings, David passes from mature life into the physical feebleness of old age. For nearly forty years he had been king,—seven of these forty over Judah only, and the remaining thirty-three over the united kingdom of Judah and Israel. His had been a long and stormy reign; the earlier part of it occupied with winning his kingdom and extending his empire, the latter part embittered by domestic jealousies, by rebellion, and by the avenging stroke of the angel of God. But now all the king’s battles were past; and the feeble old man was dwelling quietly in Jerusalem, awaiting his latter end. **I. But even now the curse which ever seems to cling to polygamy again made itself manifest.**—Adonijah (‘Jehovah in my Lord’), the fourth son of David, and the son of Haggith, one of David’s rival wives, taking advantage of his father’s feebleness, made an attempt to gain the crown for himself. Adonijah, like Absalom, was handsome in person, but he seems to have lacked that power of political intrigue which Absalom possessed. He had organised no military force, such as Absalom had gathered at Hebron; and his revolt, if such it could be called, was rather against Solomon than against David. But of popularity, or of shrewdness, he had enough to pervert to his cause the warrior Joab and the priest Abiathar. On the set day, the excited throng, down at the foot of the valley, began their eating and drinking, and ever and anon made the welkin ring with the shouts of ‘God save the king, Adonijah!’ In accordance with Nathan’s instructions, Bathsheba hastened to the king’s presence to make known the insurrection, Nathan following her to confirm her assertions. It is to be noted that Solomon was not the eldest of David’s sons; and hence, so far as the custom of primogeniture was concerned, he would not have been the first to inherit. But he was the son of David’s favourite wife—one whom David had before wronged, and to whom he had promised that *her* son should be his successor on the throne of Israel. These were the surface reasons for the preference given to Solomon; but beneath these was the fact recognised by David himself: ‘Of all my sons (for the Lord hath given me many sons) He hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel’ ( [1 Chronicles 28:5](/kjv/1-chronicles/28/5)). As Bathsheba and he met for perhaps almost the last time on this dark day, both of them must have remembered the announcement of Nathan, still with them as friend and counsellor, which he had given so long before ( [2 Samuel 12:10-11](/kjv/2-samuel/12/10-11)). How carefully we should walk with God, trusting Him to keep us moment by moment, since one glance of the eye at the forbidden may lead to such disastrous results! **II. Old age had not dimmed David’s clear apprehension of wise policy, nor dulled his sense of God’s redeeming mercy.**—Old age gives us time to review the way in which we have been led, and to recall interpositions of God’s helping hand, which in the rush of life we had hardly noticed. Let not the young glory in their strength, for it soon fades away; and let them give the vigour of their early days to God, that when the years come in which they shall say, ‘I have no pleasure in them,’ they may be able, like David, to look back over a long life and say with him that the Lord ‘hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity.’ **Illustrations** (1) ‘Adonijah’s undutiful and criminal conduct is traced by the sacred writer to his father’s fond indulgence, and the lack of proper parental control ( [1 Kings 1:6](/kjv/1-kings/1/6)). God’s covenant is with His people and their children, but this involves fidelity on their part likewise to their covenant engagements ( [Genesis 17:7](/kjv/genesis/17/7); [Genesis 17:18-19](/kjv/genesis/17/18-19); [Proverbs 22:6](/kjv/proverbs/22/6)). David gave his son a name indicative of his pious desires and hopes on his behalf; “Adonijah” means *Jehovah is my Lord;* how sadly different was the issue of his manhood from this cherished expectation in his infancy!’ (2) ‘In advancing a good cause a little quiet planning may accomplish excellent results, and not be dishonest. Nathan and Bathsheba had made their arrangements beforehand. In advancing a good cause, a good action or good advice wins much in efficacy by being skilfully performed or given. In advancing a good cause a respectful demeanour toward those in authority costs nothing, and usually accomplishes much. In advancing a good cause a good name is of the first importance. David knew at once that Nathan’s plea was not for anything bad.’ (3) ‘Repentance and forgiveness did not neutralise the natural consequences of David’s sin. Nor will they do so for us. God often leaves them to be experienced, that the experience may make us hate the sins the more.’ (4) ‘In advancing a bad cause, it is natural to have good things to eat. In advancing a bad cause, its promoters are always forward in appealing to the Divine protection, “God save King Adonijah!” In advancing a bad cause its promoters are generally exclusive in their friendships. Of course Nathan was not admitted to a share in proceedings upon which he would have frowned. In combating a bad cause it is always best to come to a clear understanding of exactly who are its friends, and who its enemies. That is what Nathan sought in questioning David. In combating a bad cause, the more care that is exercised the better. Every bad cause has at least one very skilful promoter, whose mere tools Adonijah and Abiathar and all the rest of them are. The devil keeps a close watch over his own interests.’ ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/1-kings/1#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/1-kings/1#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/1-kings/1","name":"1 Kings 1 - Study King James Bible with the church pulpit commentary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/1-kings/1#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read 1 Kings 1 with the church pulpit commentary commentary. 1 Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat. 2 Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there b","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/1-kings/1#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/1-kings/1"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/1-kings/1#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary","name":"the church pulpit commentary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/1-kings","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/1-kings","name":"1 Kings"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/1-kings/1","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/1-kings/1","name":"1"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```