1 Kings 1
At the time our account begins, King David was about seventy years old. He was far from having reached extreme old age, but a life of sufferings, conflict, and grief wears at the strength of even the most robust of men, so that the king “was old and advanced in age.” At thirty-three years of age, the Lord Himself appeared to be fifty years old (John. 8:57), but His strength was unbroken. He was not, like David, worn by grief, but, Man of Sorrows, His face was marred more than any man. Love impressed this character upon His features, for He in sympathy carried all the sorrows that sin had brought upon our miserable race.
The king’s servants devise a means of recalling him to life (1 Kings 1:2-4), imitating in this the sovereigns of the surrounding nations. It seems that David lacked the willpower to oppose the plan of those around him. A Shunammite is brought to him. She cares for him and serves him. This “very fair” virgin of Israel will later be considered by Solomon as one of the most precious jewels in his crown. She is to belong to him, and whoever may dare to look on her to covet her shall bear his judgment. But let us not anticipate. That which the Word teaches us is that she did not become the wife of David, the king of grace. It is thus at present with Christ. Though having His eyes upon Israel, all the while there is another bride at the present moment taken from among the Gentiles. He shall keep her as King of Glory, but as such He will also renew His relations with the remnant of Israel, the excellent of His people.
Before Solomon comes upon the scene, Adonijah, the son of Haggith, seeks to seize the throne of David, his father (1 Kings 1:5-8). Born immediately after Absalom (1 Kings 1:6; 2 Sam. 3:3, 4), though of another mother, he thought no doubt to have the same claim as this latter to the kingdom. He “exalted himself, saying, I will be king.” Pride, an unchecked will that had never been curbed, and a high opinion of himself, all motivated him. He was “a very comely man.” His flaws had been nourished by his father’s weakness, a weakness that had contributed so greatly to the disasters of David’s own life. David had not been unaffected by the appearance of his children, as the history of Absalom points out; perhaps for this same reason he had spared the rod in Adonijah’s case. “His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so?” Families of believers often see their testimony ruined through the weakness of the parents. In sparing the rod with their children they bring the rod upon themselves, as well as dishonor upon Christ. God never acts thus. The proof of His love toward us is furnished by His discipline. The weakness of parents is not a proof of their love, but of their egoism which would spare themselves in sparing their children (Prov. 13:24).
Adonijah follows the same path as did Absalom (2 Sam. 15:1), perhaps with less cunning deceit, for he openly manifests his pretensions and prepares chariots, runners, and horsemen for himself just as would a sovereign. Joab and Abiathar follow him. Joab, ever the same, seeks only his own self-interest. Sensing that David is near his end, he turns to Adonijah, just as previously at first opportunity he had turned to Absalom. How could he have taken the part of the king of righteousness? The misdeeds of his past life must have made him fear too intimate a contact with Solomon. And then there is nothing in the true king that is an attraction to the flesh. The natural man orients himself and will ever orient himself without hesitation toward the usurper and the false king. It is thus that we will see in a time to come that “All the world wondered after the beast.”
Adonijah is a type of the man who seeks to exalt himself to the very throne of God (Dan. 11:36); Joab and Abiathar are such who take advantage of this (Dan. 11:39); the following of Adonijah are those who are subjugated by his ascendency (Rev. 13:4).
As far as Joab is concerned, sooner or later the flesh, however clever it may be, must discover itself and show its true character. For a long time Joab was able to keep company with David, the Lord’s Anointed, and to conceal the motives which animated and dominated his heart, but an occasion always arises when the natural heart shows itself to be hostile and rebellious, manifesting that it is neither subject nor capable of being subject to the law of God.
Abiathar, the representative of religion, already condemned at the time of the judgment pronounced upon Eli, is also on Adonijah’s side. Surrounded by such a fair show, it is not surprising that this latter becomes the center of gathering for the many. He is no such center for faith. What can faith find in the company of the usurper? Zadok, Benaiah, Nathan, and the mighty men of David are not present with Adonijah. The true priest; the prophet, the messenger of God; Benaiah, the true servant who walks in the footsteps of his master — what have they to do with him? The priest looks to God, the prophet to the Spirit of God, the servant to David, to Christ. Do they need anything else? Those mighty men who have found their strength in David, shall they go after Adonijah who is unable to communicate it to them?
Benaiah is of special interest to us. In David’s time he already occupied a preeminent place in service (1 Chron. 27:5). Is he not worthy, he who had followed in everything, step by step, the footprints of his master, later to be established chief captain over the entire army? Nevertheless this man has no ambition other than to remain faithful to his king and to imitate him. He is not like Joab who takes the stronghold of Zion to acquire the preeminence. No, he is humble, for his whole purpose is to reproduce David in his conduct.
Adonijah (1 Kings 1:9-10) gives the meeting at En-rogel the false appearance of a peace offering. He follows the footsteps of his brother Absalom who had said that he wished to pay a vow to the Lord. He invites his brothers, the sons of the king, and even the servants of the king. These later go to his feast. The rebel does not fear that they will fail him. We know what the title of servants of the king is worth if the heart is not truly attached to David, or of servant of God if Christ is not the object of the affections. How many of these “king’s servants” do we not see in our day running to those who cloak their enmity against Christ under an appearance of piety? But Adonijah is too shrewd to invite those whose faith or whose testimony keeps them in David’s intimacy. He invites all his brothers, with one exception: the only one having the right to the throne according to the will of God and of his father, Solomon, he who is to become the king of glory. It is evident that he must exclude from his feast him whose presence would judge it, would condemn it, would bring to nothing all his plans and all his ambitions. Christ is the last to be invited by the world; more than that, the world is loathe to invite Him. On the other hand, was there anything at this feast with which Solomon could associate himself? No, if he had put in an appearance there, it would have been only to bring well-deserved punishment upon these rebels.
In the day that this great danger threatened Israel, no measure had been taken to ward it off (1 Kings 1:11-31). The king, weakened by age, confined to his palace, “knew not” what was happening. Blessedly, God was keeping watch for him. God who has the glory of His Son and His kingdom in view, does not allow the designs of the usurper to succeed. To this end He sends the prophet to Bathsheba with a word of wisdom. Be assured that we shall always find in the Word of God the means by which Christ may be glorified and we ourselves preserved from the ambushes of the enemy. What a contrast between Nathan’s mediation and that of Joab through the woman of Tekoah (2 Sam. 14)! There all was ruse and lying in order to affect the king’s spirit and to flatter his hidden leanings, and in order eventually to substitute for David a deceitful and violent man as king over Israel. Here prudence suggests that which is to be done, but without wavering in the least from the truth. The king must be made aware of the imminent danger. He must be persuaded to act resolutely for God. The mind of the Lord concerning Solomon had already been revealed to David. He knew it very well. It was not without reason that the Lord had given to David’s son the name Jedidiah, Beloved of the Lord (2 Sam. 12:25). David knew the mind of the Lord on this subject so well that he had sworn to Bathsheba “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” (1 Kings 1:17, 30). It was enough to remind this man of faith of his oath for him to see the path to take.
Doubtless Adonijah had counted upon the weakening of his father’s faculties in order to seize the kingdom, but he had not reckoned on God, the prophet, or the truthfulness of the king’s heart. Bathsheba speaks with respect and boldness. She shows David that he is unaware of the danger (1 Kings 1:18), that the purpose he had resolved on was to have a king according to the heart of God (1 Kings 1:17) as his successor; she also points out to him his responsibility towards herself, her son, and the people, for the eyes of all Israel were upon David, that he should tell them who should sit upon his throne after him. The truth is in the heart of this woman, as also in the heart of the prophet a lovely example of the spirit in which we should behave one towards another. Nathan appears in his turn, and in his own conversation with the king lays stress upon the fact that not only had none of the faithful servants of the Lord been invited, but above all, that Solomon had been deliberately set aside. What must one expect from a man who gives no place to the Lord, to the true King, in his purposes or in his life?
Nathan also points out that the true servants of the king did not know the king’s plans (1 Kings 1:27). Certainly such is not the case with us! God has “made known to us the mystery of his will” (Eph. 1:9), which is to gather together in one all things in Christ. But the aged king must be exhorted to reveal his secret. His decision is made immediately: all his energy is renewed when it is a matter of the Beloved. “Even so,” he says, “will I certainly do this day” (1 Kings 1:30).
We have seen in this chapter that the counsel of Nathan was according to God and according to the respect due to the king. Here it is not a matter of human counsel, as when this same Nathan said to David: “Go, do all that is in thine heart” (2 Sam. 7:3); but of divine wisdom which purposes to prevent the prophet-king from a fall, and to defend the honor of Solomon, the anointed of the Lord, after his father’s passing. Above all, it is a matter of the establishment of the king of glory upon his throne. Of all this the world neither sees nor hears anything. Gibeon with its refreshing waters, seems to be ignored by Adonijah.
But what an awakening! What trouble overwhelms those at his feast! Suddenly, in the midst of the feast, the false king, Joab, and all the guests hear the sound of the trumpet and such cries of joy that the very earth is split by the noise of Solomon’s train. “Wherefore,” says Joab, “is this noise of the city being in an uproar?” Thus the public establishment of the reign of Christ will surprise the world and deeply trouble it. Then “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision... Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion” (Psa. 2:4-6). Do we not hear the noise of this scene in our chapter?
Jonathan, Abiathar’s son, appears suddenly in the midst of the guests (1 Kings 1:41-48). Once before (2 Sam. 17:17) he had left En-rogel together with Ahimaaz, Zadok ‘s son, to go at the risk of his life to warn David of that which was transpiring against him. Now he returns to En-rogel to warn Adonijah of the failure of his attempt, though he is in no wise associated with the rebels. He comes, full of what is good news to him, for we see by his language that his heart has remained faithful to David. “Thou... bringest good news,” Adonijah says to him. “Indeed,” he replies, but these tidings were not good for his hearers. They were a disaster to Adonijah. In no way is this incompatible with Jonathan’s feelings as a son for his father who by his own fault had embarked on this dead end road. These feelings cause Jonathan to report truthfully to this company all that had taken place, holding nothing back from them. Let them take heed! As for himself, his joy, one senses, is with David’s successor. His service has not changed its character since the days of his king’s afflictions. He is ever ready to bring news, just as his companion Ahimaaz to run. His character is remarkable in its consistency. Whether he fulfills his service to David during the time of his rejection or to the world in the day of the triumph of the son of David, Jonathan remains the same faithful messenger. The time is short: it is imperative to submit immediately by “kissing the Son.” So it will be in the last days when those whom the King will call His brethren will announce far and wide the necessity of recognizing the reign of the true Solomon.
Just as Jacob in former days, the aged king, seeing the desires of his heart fulfilled, “bowed himself upon the bed” (1 Kings 1:47). We find in David the slowness of age to make a decision, but once the word of God is addressed to him by Nathan, everything changes. He does not hesitate; he sets everything in order, and acts in every detail according to the mind of God which the word recalls to him. At first he was ignorant of the plot — now he knows everything: he knows that the hour of his son’s reign has come. He is neither bitter, displeased, nor jealous in confiding to other hands the reins of government. One thought alone fills him with happiness and adoration: “Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne this day, mine eyes even seeing it!”
David here is no longer a type of Christ, but a figure of the believer who forgets himself and overflows with thanksgiving, giving all the glory to the true king; a type of those saints who, adorned with their glorious crowns, remove them to ornament the steps of the throne of the “Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.” But this Lion of Judah is the Lamb who was slain. The grace of David and the glory of Solomon are concentrated in this unique Person. The joy of a Simeon, holding in his arms the grace and salvation of God represented by the child Jesus, will be mixed in heaven with the joy of David who sees the glory of God shining in the person of the King.
In 1 Kings 1:49-53, all Adonijah’s guests, stricken with fear, flee hither and thither. They no more attempt to resist than will men before the proclamation of the reign of Christ, for they shall be broken immediately. Adonijah beseeches the mercy of the king and seeks to obtain from him his solemn promise to spare his life. Solomon consents to forget, to be gracious yet another time, but he places Adonijah under responsibility before the glory of his reign: “If he will show 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” (1 Kings 1:52).
It will be the same in the future reign of the Messiah. He will spare many rebels who come to him feigning repentance, but once evil is found in them He will cut them off from the land (2 Sam. 22:45; Psa. 101:8). When righteousness reigns the wicked will no longer be tolerated. Solomon, figure of the millennial King, knows Adonijah and does not modify his judgment when he sees him bowed before him. He knows what is harbored in his proud heart which is merely feigning submission and repentance. “Go to thine house,” he says to him. Brief, severe words. Adonijah should have taken warning from them. From henceforth his role was to be quiet as a man who has been found guilty and is being kept under surveillance. He benefits from this longsuffering as long as evil is not manifested in him.