Adonijah's Coup is
Ended; 1 Kings 1:5-35
1 Kings 1:5 NASB
“Now Adonijah the son of Haggith
exalted himself, saying, ‘I will be king.’ So he prepared for himself chariots
and horsemen with fifty men to run before him.” This is really a summary
statement. This has been going on for some time, he
has had a mental attitude power lust wanting to usurp the throne. He would have
been fully aware of the fact that Solomon was the one who the designated heir
but he thinks that he, because he is the older brother, has the right of primogeniture
and thinks that he has a natural-born right. He is totally self-absorbed and
when he makes this statement, “I will be king,” it is stated in an emphatic
sense in the Hebrew. Furthermore, as we look at the second part of the verse,
what he does entails a lot of forethought and planning and logistics. He is
making sure that he has all of the pomp and circumstance and has a great a parade
as he possibly can as he goes to the place for anointing. He wants to get
everybody’s attention in
1 Kings 1:6 NASB “His
father had never crossed him at any time by asking, ‘Why have you done so?’ And
he was also a very handsome man, and he was born after Absalom.”
He has been spoiled most of his life. One way to guarantee that your children
will grow up arrogant and self-absorbed is to always let them have their way
and never teach them anything about authority orientation. One of the most
important things a parent can do is instil authority orientation into his children—to
respect authority, teach them self-discipline, and drill that into them in
those early years. Adonijah is a classic example of a
child who is allowed to get away with whatever he wants to get away with and he
is now going to rebel against authority. Rebellion against authority is always
wrong in the Scripture. There is never a valid rebellion against human authority
unless that authority is demanding that you do something in violation of what
God has instructed.
Who was Adonijah? His name [jah comes from the first syllable in the name of God, YHWH] means “My
Lord is YHWH.” But what he is doing is just the opposite of what
his name says. He is rejecting the authority of YHWH rather than submitting to it. He was the fourth son
of David by David’s wife Haggith. Cf. 2 Samuel 3:1-5,
a list of the first sons born to David when he was king of
The conspiracy: 1 Kings
1:7 NASB “He had conferred with Joab the
son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar
the priest; and following Adonijah they helped him.” This
is all background. He has thought about this and planned maybe for years. He
has found some co-conspirators who would rather have him as king than Solomon,
and they are some of his father’s closest advisors. In verse 8 we see who he
excluded: NASB “But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada,
Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty men
who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.”
Who are these people? Joab is the Commander-in-Chief of David’s army. He had a
violent streak in him and that was something that always bothered David. There
was something about Joab that he didn’t quite trust
even though he had to rely very heavily on him. Joab
was the son of Zeruiah who was David’s half sister,
so he was David’s nephew. Abishai and Asahel were his two brothers. This was a violent family. The
first time we meet Joab in the Scriptures is in 2
Samuel chapter two when his brothers Asahel and Abishai are killed at the time that David has his victory
against Ishbosheth’s rebel forces. Abner is Saul’s general who has survived and when he is fleeing
Asahel is chasing him and Abner
kills Asahel and later Abishai.
Then Joab comes along and assassinates Abner because he is afraid that Abner
is going to work his way into David’s favour. When that happened David truly
mourned over Abner but it wasn’t long before he made Joab his Commander-in-Chief. We see in Joab’s
character a mixture of cunning and cruelty, loyalty, and he is the one who
carries out the conspiracy to put Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, up at the front of the battle but he
gives David the credit for the capture of the city. There is an element of
tremendous loyalty to David during that period of time. He also tried to bring a reconciliation between David and Absolom.
But at the end of his life his loyalty to David faltered and he began to ally
himself with Adonijah rather than with Solomon.
The second person
introduced is Abiathar the high priest. He was the
son of Ahimelech who was the high priest at Nob. Abathar was the one who helped David take the ark to
Joab has the military and Abiathar
has the priesthood, and that seems to indicate that God is behind this move of Adonijah’s. But the ones who don’t go along are equally significant.
1 Kings 1:8 NASB “But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada,
Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty men
who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.” This
is important because Zadok represents also the priestly
line. He is the son of Ahitub who according to 1
Chronicles 6:4 is a direct descendant of Eleazar, the
third son of Aaron. He is serving as priest under David, along with Abiathar, and he is going to become the high priest after
this revolt is taken care of and Abiathar is retired
from the high priesthood.
Benaiah, whose name means YHWH has built up, is the son of Jehoiada,
is the captain of David’s foreign body-guard, according to 2 Samuel 8:18 and
20:23. He was also placed in command of the entire army of Israel every third
month and he was renowned for his physical prowess and military skill among the
core group of David’s mighty men known as the thirty, mentioned in 2 Samuel
23:20-23; 1 Chronicles 11:22-25. He was loyal to David during Absolom’s rebellion and he remained loyal to David during
the coup of Adonjiah.
Third person mentioned
here is really the most important, and that is Nathan the prophet. He is the
most important because as the prophet he is the one who represents God, and
from the time of the anointing of Saul by Samuel, all the way up to the time
John the Baptist baptizes Jesus as the offered King of the Jews, the king of
Israel is always anointed by a prophet demonstrating that God is the ultimate
authority in Israel, not the king. The king only serves under God and the prophet
is the one who is the king-maker and the king designator. So when Nathan doesn’t
throw in with Adonijah it is a clear sign that God is
not backing Adonijah. But the people don’t care. The people
go with the person who looks like they should be king, as they did with Saul
who had tremendous charisma, but again, like Adonijah
he was not authority oriented, he was rebellious towards God and that
eventually led to his being removed from the throne. So Nathan is the prophet,
he has been a key figure in the reign of David and is the one who is going to really
be instrumental in making sure that God’s plan is carried out.
The next person mentioned
is Shimei. He is one of 19 men in the Old Testament who
are named Shimei and this is the best-known of the
group. He is a Benjamite and a kinsman of Saul. Even
though 40 years have gone by there is still a faction of Benjamites
who think that David took the throne away from Saul and they want to get the family
of Saul back on the throne. All of this is important because God has determined
the line of the seed. All these conspiracies to supplant David, to supplant the
Davidic line all have to do ultimately with a key move in the angelic conflict.
Satan is not mentioned here but we know that he is operating behind the scenes,
just as God is. It is interesting that there is no mention of God in this
section, no mention of Satan, we just see how man is carrying things out, but
we do know that there is a spiritual dimension behind the scenes and that God
is still working behind the scenes to bring about His purpose. So Shimei is a defendant of Saul and someone that a faction
could ally itself with against David. But he is not throwing his weight behind Abiathar. Shimei was also one that
cursed David at one time, in 2 Samuel 16:5, for being a man of blood, and David
seemed to accept this admonition rather humbly and later allowed for the
protection of Shimei. By 1 Kings chapter
two Shimei shows his colours that he is just as open
to conspiracy and to taking the throne from Solomon as the others.
The ceremony itself: 1 Kings
1:9 NASB “Adonijah sacrificed sheep and
oxen and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is
beside En-rogel; and he invited all his brothers, the
king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants.
Nathan discovers the coup
and he is going to recruit Bathsheba to help him
inform David. Some how David has to become engaged and to intercede
and do something to stop Adonijah from seizing the
throne. 1 Kings 1:11 NASB “Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, ‘Have you not
heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith
has become king, and David our lord does not know {it?} [12] So now come,
please let me give you counsel and save your life and the life of your son
Solomon.”
1 Kings 1:13 NASB
“Go at once to King David and say to him, ‘Have you not, my lord, O king, sworn
to your maidservant, saying, ‘Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me,
and he shall sit on my throne’? Why then has Adonijah
become king?’
Bathsheba reminds David of his promise, v. 17 NASB “She
said to him, ‘My lord, you swore to your maidservant by the LORD your God,
{saying,} ‘Surely your son Solomon shall be king after me and he shall sit on
my throne’.” This is the first of several times that David is going to be
reminded of this promise regarding Solomon. [18] ‘Now, behold, Adonijah is king; and now, my lord the king, you do not
know {it.}’ … [20] As for you now, my lord the king, the eyes of all
Then we see David taking
charge and getting involved. 1 Kings 1:28 NASB “Then King David
said, ‘Call Bathsheba to me.’ And she came into the
king’s presence and stood before the king.” David swears an oath. [29] “The
king vowed and said, ‘As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress, [30]
surely as I vowed to you by the LORD the God of Israel, saying, ‘Your son Solomon shall be
king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place’; I will indeed do so
this day.”
In verses 32-27 David
gives instructions for the coronation of Solomon. Think about how fast this has
to be done, because while they are doing this Adonijah is just about a mile away having his inauguration
banquet and most of the people are out celebrating the fact that he will be the
kings. NASB “Then King David said, ‘Call to me Zadok
the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son
of Jehoiada.’ And they came into the king’s presence.
The reason David is
sending them down to Gihon, for one thing, is that it
is closer. As soon as they go down to the pool of Gihon
and anoint Solomon word is going to get to Adonijah fairly
rapidly. The idea is that Solomon is half a mile closer to the throne than Adonijah is and so they are not to waste any time, there is
no pomp and circumstance, they are going to go down with the three key people, the
head of the army, the high priest and the prophet, anoint Solomon and then take
him directly to David’s palace. He is going to sit on the throne and that will
pull the rug out from under Adonijah.
Verses 38-40 describe what
takes place. We have the scene related to the anointing of Solomon. NASB
“So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites
went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon.
In the coronation what
would take place is they would bring out the horn of oil. They would take this
oil from the tabernacle. This oil and the horn that it was kept in was oil that
went back to the anointing of the first high priest back during the time of
Moses. The horn was used because the horn indicates strength, power and
authority of the leader. A bottle was made by man but a horn was made by God,
so there was that implication that God was the one establishing the throne and
not man. Oil was used because it symbolised honour and status. In Proverbs we
are told that a good name is better than oil. Oil lasts longer than water and
so it implies permanence and stability. Oil indicates that this is going to be
a permanent dynasty.
Word gets to Adonijah. 1 Kings 1:41 NASB “Now Adonijah and all the guests who {were} with him heard {it}
as they finished eating. When Joab heard the sound of
the trumpet, he said, ‘Why is the city making such an uproar?’
[42] While he was still speaking, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. Then Adonijah
said, ‘Come in, for you are a valiant man and bring good news’.” Abiathar comes in and informs Adonjiah
that David has made Solomon king and that this has the approval of Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, as well as the Cherethites,
and the Pelethites, and at this moment Solomon was
sitting on the royal throne. [48] “The king has also said thus, ‘Blessed be the
LORD,
the God of Israel, who has granted one to sit on my throne today while my own
eyes see {it.}’”
At that point we get Adonijah’s response. He learns he has been trumped and in
the final scene he seeks grace from Solomon. 1 Kings 1:49 NASB “Then
all the guests of Adonijah were terrified; and they
arose and each went on his way.
At this time of his life
he loved the Lord with all of his heart, is totally devoted to the Lord, is
grace oriented, a mature believer, and he is going to deal with his enemies in
grace.
What is happening here is
that God is working behind the scenes to bring about and secure the promise
that he made to David in the Davidic covenant: that a son of his would sit on the
throne. God had indicated that that would be Solomon and it is through the line
of Solomon that the Messiah is going to come. What goes on in Kings is the tracing
of the seed through the line of David and Solomon and how God is protecting
that despite all of the bad things that are going on. Despite the chaos of history
God is still going to bring about and accomplish His plan.