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.
David's last act as king is a summons: three names, called to his bedside while a rival son is already feasting as king a short distance away. Why these three men? And how does a man too weak to leave his bed still decide who takes the throne?
Adonijah counted on his father being finished. But the old king needed only a push, and he decided on the spot.
But the aged king must be urged to reveal his secret. He decides at once: all his energy returns when it is a matter of the Beloved. "I will certainly do this today," he says (v. 30).
This is not natural recovery.
Adonijah had thought David was too old and worn out to have any power left as king. But the God who had brought David through all his troubles was still God. He could enable David to still use the moral and spiritual power that had carried him through much opposition before. God always backs up what is His own work.
The three men David calls are the same three who were missing from Adonijah's feast. Each of them was already looking elsewhere.
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.
Two priests had stood beside David for years. One crisis divided them.
At this point we see a remarkable difference between the two priests, Zadok and Abiathar... But now the time has come for the wheat to be separated from the chaff: Adonijah "conferred with Joab … and with Abiathar …, and they followed Adonijah and helped him" (1 Kings 1:7)... How refreshing to read in the next verse: "But Zadok the priest, … and the mighty men whom David had, were not with Adonijah."
This is the man David names first.
King David, though weak and at death's door, rises to the occasion. He knows who he can trust: "Call me Zadok the priest …" (v. 32). He gives command that Solomon should be king and that Zadok should have the honour of anointing him. Zadok receives his reward during his own lifetime. Solomon becomes king, and "the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar" (1 Kings 2:35).
Benaiah would rise to the top of David's army, yet he never reached for position.
Is he not worthy, he who had followed in everything, step by step, the footprints of his master, later to become chief captain over the whole army? Yet this man has no ambition except to stay faithful to his king and to be like him. He is not like Joab, who takes the stronghold of Zion to gain first place. No, he is humble, for his whole purpose is to reproduce David in his conduct.
Adonijah's move looked like a threat to Solomon. It turned out to be the reason Solomon was crowned that very day.
I say then that the grand point here is the establishment of the son of David... And since there were many sons, this was the question. The devil was quite willing to use a son of David against the son of David. This was exactly the question now. God was pleased to use the wickedness of those who insulted the king by treating him as a dead man while he was still alive. The haste and hurry of Adonijah only confirmed Solomon's title all the more. We never need to worry about our own schemes for carrying out God's plans... God has His own way, and very often it runs through man's sin.
Nathan is the second name on David's list. His work does not stop at announcing God's will.
God uses His prophet, the witness to His will, to carry that will out. Solomon is proclaimed king and installed before the eyes of David himself.
The anointing that follows this summons points forward.
The priest anointed him king and the people rejoiced with great joy. But what joy will come to this earth when One greater than Solomon takes His throne and receives His great kingdom! Solomon's glorious reign only faintly pictures it. All David did was according to Jehovah's will and purpose.
- Called. David calls three men who had already proved loyal while the rebellion was forming.
- Tested. Zadok and Abiathar had long stood together. One crisis separated the wheat from the chaff. The faithful priest received the honour of anointing.
- Copied. Benaiah rose without ambition. He reproduced his master instead of grabbing first place like Joab.
- Overruled. Adonijah's plot to seize the throne only confirmed Solomon's title and brought his crowning forward.
- Foreshadowed. The anointing that follows is a faint sketch. It points to the joy coming to earth when One greater than Solomon reigns.
And the king said to 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;
Adonijah had declared himself king in a valley outside Jerusalem. David answers with an order rather than an argument, naming the escort, the mount and the exact place for Solomon's anointing.
The place David picks is not neutral ground:
David then called for Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet and Benaiah, the trusted military leader (v.32). He ordered them to take the servants of David (the Cherethites and Pelethites) and have Solomon ride on David's mule down to Gihon. This was the same valley in which Adonijah had proclaimed himself king. It was the Kidron Valley, east of Jerusalem rather than south.
Horses came later. The animal David names belongs to a plainer time, and Solomon's own proverb about horses sharpens the point:
In David's day we read of mules and donkeys. These humble animals seem to have had no place with Solomon, except for the day when he rode on David's mule to be anointed at Gihon (1 Kings 1:38). Solomon himself tells us in Proverbs 21:31 that "the horse is made ready for the day of battle." Then he adds what he later quite forgot: "but the victory belongs to the LORD."
The mule was David's, and so was the throne. He hands over both while he is still alive:
All his service is now ended. Nothing remains but to reap the fruit of it, and the glory and kingdom for which all these things had been prepared. Yet he retires, content to be nothing, when he must cease to serve. The throne of Jerusalem was no more to him than his shepherd's tent at Bethlehem. In both, all he wanted was to work out his day like a hired man. And now, having come to the evening of his day, he retires. He will not glorify himself… He gives up the throne which his hands had established, and all its honours. These were nothing in his account. He had finished his work and service, and this was everything to him.
One of the men David sends is a prophet. That makes this more than a family arrangement:
God uses His own prophet, the witness to His will, to carry that will out. Solomon is proclaimed king and installed in front of David himself.
Adonijah's side had planned carefully, and the planning failed:
But after all, man's prudence fails before the judgment of God. God arranges events in such a way that, sooner or later, the most prudent are shown up for what they are.
The attempt to seize the crown only hastened the thing it meant to prevent. What began as a whispered emergency ends as a public, sealed transaction:
Well, the thing is now established, and the very effort to destroy it brings out, as I have already said, the speedy establishment of the will of God. They set Solomon on the king's mule. They sound the trumpet. The real men who had fought the battles of the kingdom and who had guided the counsels of the king — and the king himself above all — put their seal on this great transaction. Solomon is truly seated as king on the throne of Jehovah in Israel.
The anointing at Gihon ended in great rejoicing, and one writer looks past it:
The priest anointed him king and the people rejoiced with great joy. But what joy will come to this earth when He who is greater than Solomon is enthroned and receives His great kingdom! Solomon's glorious reign is only a faint foreshadowing of it. All David did was according to Jehovah's will and purpose. Solomon was a mere youth at his anointing.
- Choice. God had chosen His king before the crisis. Adonijah's move only forced the appointment into the open.
- Mule. David lends his own animal, the plain mount of his own day, so everyone can see whose authority Solomon carries.
- Gihon. The anointing takes place in the same valley where Adonijah had claimed the crown.
- Witnesses. A priest, a prophet and a soldier carry it out in public, so God's will is announced, not just decided.
- Throne. Solomon takes what the writers call the throne of Jehovah. The joy of that day is a faint sketch of the day when One greater than Solomon reigns.
and let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel; and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, Long live king Solomon!
At the end of his reign, David gives one last order. A priest and a prophet are to anoint his son Solomon at Gihon. A trumpet and a shout are to announce it. Why two men from two different offices? Why that spot, and why so much noise?
Adonijah's feast looked like a success. The eldest son, the army commander and the priest were all there. What was missing was any regard for what God wanted.
On the face of it, all goes well. The king's older, much-loved son is there. So is the captain of the army, whom David himself could not resist. So is the priest who had always gone with David. All the king's sons are there too, except the one God had chosen. But the thought of God, or His will, had no place there.
The verse names a prophet alongside the priest. God uses His prophet to put His choice into effect, and David watches it happen.
The prophet of God is the witness to His will. God uses him to carry out that will. So Solomon is proclaimed king and brought into office before the eyes of David himself.
Anointing with oil was not decoration. It did something for the man who received it.
Three kinds of people were anointed with oil in Old Testament times — prophets, priests and kings. Oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit. In fact the Holy Spirit is called "the Anointing" in 1 John 2:27. When the prophet was anointed, it gave him what he needed to fulfil the prophet's office. When the priest was anointed, it gave him what he needed to fulfil the priest's office. When the king was anointed, it gave him what he needed to fulfil the king's office.
The verse names Zadok as the priest who anoints. That name marks a change at the top of the priesthood.
David still lives until after the last struggle of the enemy. That struggle is seen when Adonijah tries to take the kingdom. With him are Joab, the chief of the army, and Abiathar the priest, who up to that moment was head of the priesthood. But Abiathar is now thrust aside. This happened just as God's word to Samuel long before had said, yet in history it came about by his own act and deed. So wonderfully does God blend man's responsibility with His own counsels. Zadok is called to anoint Solomon.
Gihon was not chosen at random.
David gave orders that Solomon should ride on David's mule down to Gihon. This was the same valley in which Adonijah had proclaimed himself king — the Kidron Valley, but east of Jerusalem instead of south.
The sound carried along the valley to the rival feast.
While they were celebrating, they hear the shouting of the people. Sudden fear seizes them, and destruction soon overtakes them. So it will be at the end.
The mule Solomon rides is David's own, and the throne is David's own. The old king hands over both without a backward look.
All his service is now ended. Nothing remains but to reap the fruit of it — the glory and kingdom for which all these things had been prepared. So he retires. He stops being king at the point where he must stop serving. The throne of Jerusalem meant no more to him than his shepherd's tent at Bethlehem. In both, all he wanted was to fill his day like a hired workman… He gives up the throne his own hands had established, and all its honours. These were nothing in his account. He had finished his work and service, and that was everything to him.
The joy at Gihon was real. It also points to a far greater day.
The priest anointed Solomon king and the people rejoiced with great joy. But what joy will come to this earth when He who is greater than Solomon is enthroned and receives His great kingdom! Solomon's glorious reign is only a faint picture of it. When another One, the greater Son of David, is enthroned and the glad news flashes out that He has taken His throne, all His enemies will be scattered.
- Chosen. Adonijah's party had the eldest son, the general and the priest. It did not have the thought or will of God, and that settled the outcome.
- Anointed. Oil pictures the Holy Spirit. It gave a prophet, a priest or a king what he needed for his office.
- Replaced. Abiathar fell and Zadok was called in his place. God's purpose and a man's own act and deed met in one event.
- Proclaimed. The trumpet sounded in the same valley as the rival feast. The rebels heard the shout, and sudden fear seized them.
- Foreshadowed. The great joy at Gihon is only a faint picture of the joy when One greater than Solomon is enthroned and His enemies are scattered.
And ye shall come up after him, that he may come and sit on my throne; for he shall reign in my stead, and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, Amen Jehovah, the God of my lord the king, say so too.
David has just given the order: Solomon rides the king's mule to Gihon, and the priest anoints him king. Benaiah, the officer who must carry it out, answers with one word — and then asks God to say the same thing.
Benaiah is named earlier in the chapter among those Adonijah deliberately left off his guest list. He belonged to a group whose loyalty ran to David's purpose rather than to David's most impressive son.
"But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada," who was the true servant of the king's purposes, not Joab — Joab had the name, the title, but Benaiah was the man who did the real work — "Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and Nathan the prophet," the man who was the interpreter of the mind of God — these, as well as "Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah."
His whole ambition ran along one line, and it was not his own advancement.
Benaiah is of special interest to us. In David's time he already held an outstanding place in service (1 Chron. 27:5)... Yet this man has no ambition other than to stay faithful to his king and to imitate him. He is not like Joab, who takes the stronghold of Zion to gain the top place. No, he is humble, for his whole purpose is to reproduce David in his conduct.
"Amen" is not a polite closing here. It is one of the strongest words of agreement in the Bible.
This word "Amen" is a remarkable one. It is a symbol-word of absolute and final affirmation. Among the Jews it was the "formula of agreement," the word a witness used when he answered under oath. It was the word our Lord used again and again, translated "verily" about 100 times in the Gospels. Most languages across the earth do not translate it at all; they take the word in just as it is.
This word has roots that reach into truth and faith.
Translators almost always leave the Hebrew word as 'Amen.' Twice, in Isaiah 65:16, they render it 'truth': "he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth." In Jeremiah 11:5 they render it 'So be it.' There God declared that He would perform the oath He had sworn, and the prophet answered, "So be it, LORD." A related Hebrew word means 'to believe'; it appears in Genesis 15:6.
Benaiah does not stop at approval. He asks God to say the same, and in the next verse he asks for more.
Benaiah answered the king with positive approval (v.36). He added the desire that Solomon's kingdom would become greater than David's. In one respect this proved true: the peace of Solomon's day helped make his kingdom wonderfully prosperous. But Solomon's own disobedience spoiled that prosperity, and it led to the break-up of the kingdom after he died (ch.12).
Benaiah's "Amen" landed on something God had already settled.
Adonijah had thought David was too old and too drained of strength to have any power left as king. But the God who had brought David through all his troubles was still God... God always backs up what is His own work.
Adonijah's grab for the crown only hurried on the very thing he wanted to stop.
Well, the thing is now established, and the very effort to destroy it brings out the speedy establishment of the will of God... The real men who had fought the battles of the kingdom and had guided the counsels of the king — and the king himself above all — put their seal on this great act. Solomon now sits firmly as king on the throne of Jehovah in Israel.
The anointing that Benaiah welcomed was a small picture of something still ahead.
The priest anointed him king and the people rejoiced with great joy. But what joy will come to this earth when One greater than Solomon takes His throne and receives His great kingdom! Solomon's glorious reign is only a faint picture of it.
The word Benaiah used has become a name for Christ Himself.
Amen is from a Hebrew word that means what is fixed, true and unchangeable... It implies divine certainty. In Christ we have the guarantee that every promise and every truth of God will be Amened, fully carried out. Christ is God's last word, His Amen.
- Amen means firm. It is the word of a witness under oath: "so be it," fixed, true, unchangeable. It shares a root with the words for truth and for believing.
- Amen takes sides. Benaiah had spent years serving David without seeking the top place, and his one word said out loud where he already stood.
- Amen becomes prayer. He agrees with the king, asks the LORD to say the same, and prays for a kingdom greater than David's.
- God answers Amen. The throne was God's own work, and God backs up what is His own. The rebellion only sped up the crowning it tried to stop.
- Amen has a name. Solomon crowned is a faint sketch of a greater King, and in Christ God says Amen to every promise He has made.
As Jehovah has 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.
Benaiah answers David's order to crown Solomon with a prayer, not a salute. He asks that the God who stood by the old king would stand by the young one, and then lift the son's throne higher than the father's.
The words carry weight because of who spoke them. One writer draws attention to Benaiah's long record of service and to the single aim that shaped it.
Benaiah is of special interest to us. In David's time he already occupied a leading place in service (1 Chr. 27:5). He had followed his master's footsteps in everything, step by step. Did he not deserve to take charge of the whole army later on? Yet this man has no ambition other than to stay faithful to his king and to imitate him. He is not like Joab who takes the stronghold of Zion to gain the top place. No, he is humble, for his whole purpose is to reproduce David in his conduct.
Another commentator sets Benaiah beside the men who had gone over to the usurper, and notes who actually carried David's purposes through.
"But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada," who was the true servant of the king's purposes, not Joab — Joab had the name, the title, but Benaiah was the man who did the real work.
Did the prayer come true? One commentator answers on both sides.
Once anointed, Solomon was to come up and sit on David's throne. David had appointed him king in his place. Benaiah answered the king with full approval (v.36). He added the wish that Solomon's kingdom would become greater than David's. In one way this came true. The peace of Solomon's day helped to make his kingdom wonderfully prosperous. But Solomon's own disobedience spoiled that prosperity, and it led to the breakup of the kingdom after he died (ch.12).
Benaiah speaks of "the throne of my lord King David," yet Scripture gives that seat a higher name. One writer follows where that higher name leads.
At this point Scripture calls David's throne "the throne of the LORD" (1 Chron. 29:22-23). What a title of exaltation — and the Queen of Sheba acknowledged it when she came to visit (2 Chron. 9:8). David's throne has a place in the ways of God that no other has ever had, or can have. It is the centre of God's rule over the earth, and only the Lord Jesus can fill it perfectly. It was a sad day for Israel and for all the nations when the LORD in righteousness had to "make his splendor cease and cast his throne to the ground" (Psalm 89:44). Then began "the times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24).
Benaiah's prayer counts on God keeping His word to David's line. But a sure promise does not leave the king free to live as he pleases.
God holds to the certainty of His purpose of grace. He holds just as firmly to the certainty of His judgments, if the king fails to meet the demands of His holiness. These two streams, grace and responsibility, flow on side by side and never get mixed up.
The prayer outgrew the man it was made for. One writer reads Solomon's crowning as a sketch of a reign still to come.
Solomon and his glorious reign foreshadow the reign of that greater Son of David, our Lord. In Him God will fully keep the covenant promise made to David. Solomon's righteous judgments, his wisdom, his reign in peace, and above all the building of the temple, all point to Him. He will soon receive the throne and build the temple of the LORD (Zech 6:13).
- Presence first. Benaiah asks for greatness only after he asks for God's presence. The son's throne stands on the same presence that carried the father.
- Prayer from a follower. The man who asked for a greater throne wanted none himself. His one aim was to copy his master, while Joab grabbed at the top place.
- A greater throne, briefly. God answered the prayer in Solomon's peace and prosperity. Then Solomon's own disobedience left the kingdom split after his death.
- A throne on loan. Scripture calls the seat the throne of the LORD, the centre of God's rule over the earth. That is why it could be cast down, and why only Christ fills it perfectly.
- Greater fulfilled. Grace and responsibility run side by side. Solomon failed, but the greater Son of David will not; He will take the throne and build the temple.
And 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.
David's men carry out his dying order at once: the priest, the prophet and the trusted soldier take Solomon down to Gihon on the king's own mule. Every detail matters here — who goes, what he rides, where they stop — and each one shows whose will is being done.
Adonijah had already held his own coronation banquet, and his guest list was as telling as David's. The three men named here are exactly the three he had left out.
Zadok, Benaiah, Nathan, and the mighty men of David are not with Adonijah. Zadok is the true priest. Nathan is the prophet, the messenger of God. Benaiah is the true servant who walks in the footsteps of his master. What do they have to do with Adonijah? 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 found their strength in David — will they go after Adonijah, who cannot give it to them?
Careful human planning can still collide with God's own choice.
Solomon, the elect of God, who held his rights from God, did not suit them. But after all, man's prudence fails before the judgment of God. God arranges events in such a manner as, sooner or later, to show the most prudent in their true light.
The prophet's work did not stop at speaking.
God uses the prophet, the witness to His will, to carry that will out. Solomon is proclaimed king and installed before David's own eyes.
Two things gave the crowd its proof: what Solomon sat on, and who walked beside him.
Solomon rides on the king's mule. The trumpet sounds. The real men who had fought the battles of the kingdom and guided the counsels of the king — and above all the king himself — put their seal on this great transaction. Solomon is properly seated as king on the throne of Jehovah in Israel.
David is the one giving the order, and what he orders is his own retirement.
The throne in Jerusalem meant no more to him than his shepherd's tent at Bethlehem. In both he only wanted to fill his day like a hired worker. He gives up the throne his own hands had built, and all its honours. They counted for nothing with him. He had finished his work and his service, and that was everything to him.
The place they chose was not neutral ground.
David gave orders that they were to take the servants of David (the Cherethites and Pelethites) and have Solomon ride on David's mule down to Gihon. This was the same valley in which Adonijah had proclaimed himself king — the Kidron Valley — but east of Jerusalem instead of south.
Abiathar had served David for years, yet at this moment it is Zadok who is sent for. Loyalty tested at the right hour receives its reward.
King David, though weak and at death's door, rises to the occasion. He knows who he can trust: "Call me Zadok the priest …" (v. 32). He gives command that Solomon should be king and that Zadok should have the honour of anointing him. Zadok receives his reward already in his own lifetime.
The change at Gihon reached further than one man's appointment.
After the king is brought in, the position of the priesthood changes. It is no longer the usual link between the people and God. When God sets Eli aside, He says, "I will raise up for myself a faithful priest … and he shall go in and out" — not before Me, but "before my anointed forever" (1 Samuel 2:35).
Commentators read this procession as a small picture of something still ahead.
The priest anointed him king and the people rejoiced with great joy. But what joy will come to this earth when He who is greater than Solomon takes His throne and receives His great kingdom! Solomon's glorious reign gives only a faint picture of it.
- Chosen — Solomon's right to the throne came from God, not from ambition. Those with no room for God's will gathered elsewhere.
- Called — the three men who stayed away from Adonijah are the three David sends. Each one looked to someone higher than himself.
- Carried — David's own mule and David's own servants show that the old king is handing over what his own hands had built.
- Confronted — the trumpet sounds in the valley where Adonijah had claimed the crown. God answers him on his own ground.
- Coming — the joy at Gihon is only a faint sketch of the joy when One greater than Solomon takes His kingdom.
And Zadok the priest took the horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, Long live king Solomon!
David is dying. Adonijah has already thrown himself a coronation feast. The old king gives one last order: bring Solomon down to Gihon and anoint him. This verse records the moment it happens — a priest, a horn of holy oil, a trumpet, and a shout that settles who reigns.
The anointing carries out what God had already decided.
The prophet of God, the witness to His will, is used to carry that will out. Solomon is proclaimed king and installed in office before the eyes of David himself.
Adonijah's plot did not delay the throne; it hurried it.
Well, the thing is now settled, and the very effort to destroy it brings out how quickly the will of God is established. Solomon is made to ride on the king's mule. The trumpet sounds. The real men who had fought the battles of the kingdom and guided the counsels of the king — and above all the king himself — put their seal on this great event. Solomon is now properly seated as king on the throne of the LORD in Israel.
Solomon was brought down to Gihon, close to where Adonijah had staged his own crowning.
David ... gave orders that they were to have Solomon ride on David's mule down to Gihon. This was the same valley in which Adonijah had proclaimed himself king, the Kidron Valley. But this spot lay east of Jerusalem rather than south.
The oil came from the tent — the sanctuary — and pouring it on a man's head meant something definite.
The word "anointing" is a symbol, and it carries a definite meaning. Three classes of people were anointed in Old Testament times — priests, prophets, kings. They were anointed by having oil poured on their heads. It was a ceremony, but it carried with it a definite result. 1 Samuel 16:13 shows this clearly: "Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him [David] in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward." So Scripture links anointing with oil to the giving of the Spirit. With the priest, the oil enabled him to take the priestly position and service; with the prophet, the prophetic position and service; with the king, the kingly position and service.
Two priests served at that time. Abiathar went with Adonijah. Zadok did not, and Zadok is the man holding the horn.
Zadok is found once again among the faithful and trusted men of David... But now the time has come to separate the wheat from the chaff. Adonijah "conferred with Joab … and with Abiathar …, and they followed Adonijah and helped him" (1 Kings 1:7)... How refreshing to read in the next verse: "But Zadok the priest … and David's mighty men were not with Adonijah." Again Zadok is on the right side — this time unlike his fellow priest Abiathar.
Commentators see a picture in that pairing of priest and king:
So Zadok stands for the priesthood, alongside the king of God's choice and the kingdom God set up in David's seed — a foreshadowing of Christ.
The sound carried to Adonijah's banquet.
But what an awakening! What trouble overwhelms those at his feast! In the middle of the meal the false king, Joab, and all the guests hear the trumpet. They hear such cries of joy that the noise of Solomon's procession splits the very earth. "Why," asks Joab, "is the city in such an uproar?" In the same way, the public setting up of the reign of Christ will surprise the world and trouble it deeply.
Commentators see the day at Gihon as a small picture of something still ahead.
The priest anointed him king and the people rejoiced with great joy. But what joy will come to this earth when He who is greater than Solomon is enthroned and receives His great kingdom! Solomon's glorious reign is only a faint picture of it.
- Chosen — God had already settled the throne on Solomon. The plot against him only sped the day up.
- Anointed — the oil from the tent marked a man out for office. Scripture links that oil with the giving of the Spirit for the work.
- Sealed — Zadok held the horn. He stayed loyal while his fellow priest joined the revolt, so priest and God's chosen king stand together.
- Proclaimed — the trumpet and the shout made it public. The noise carried to the rival feast and filled it with dread.
- Foreshadowed — the joy at Gihon faintly pictures the day when One greater than Solomon takes His kingdom. That day will startle the world.
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.
A priest has just anointed Solomon king at the spring of Gihon. The crowd now walks him back up to the city, piping and shouting loud enough to shake the ground — a noise that meant joy to some and dread to others.
Another son of David, Adonijah, had already thrown himself a coronation feast. The crowd behind Solomon is the answer to that feast. God used the plotting of others to settle His own choice.
The devil was quite willing to make use of a son of David against the son of David. This was exactly the question now. And God was pleased to make use of the wickedness of those who insulted the king, treating him in effect as a dead man while he was still alive. The hurry and haste of Adonijah only confirmed Solomon's title all the more. We need never trouble ourselves with our schemes for carrying out God's plans. All man's efforts are in vain. God has His own way, and very often through man's sin.
The joy does not start with the crowd. A priest anoints Solomon first. The people's shout follows the anointing; it does not make him king.
Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah had Solomon ride on King David's mule and brought him to Gihon. The priest anointed him king and the people rejoiced with great joy. But what joy will come to this earth when He who is greater than Solomon takes His throne and receives His great kingdom! Solomon's glorious reign gives only a faint picture of it.
Close enough to hear it, Adonijah's party was still eating. The trumpet told them their feast was over.
But what an awakening! What trouble overwhelms those at his feast! Suddenly, in the middle of the feast, the false king, Joab, and all the guests hear the sound of the trumpet. They hear such cries of joy that the very earth is split by the noise of Solomon's procession. "Why," says Joab, "is this noise of the city in an uproar?" So the public setting up of the reign of Christ will surprise the world and deeply trouble it.
Three men led that feast. Between them they held every kind of power the world has.
In these three men we see three powers combined against Christ: in Adonijah the authority of the world, in Joab the executive power, in Abiathar the religious power. They stand for the three great moral forces of the world. While they are celebrating, they hear the shouting of the people. Sudden fear seizes them, and destruction soon overtakes them. So it will be at the end.
Worship in Israel had always meant sacrifice. Singing arrived with a king who had no war left to fight.
Solomon's was the time of rest. No enemy remained for him to conquer. He had no more preparing to do through trouble and toil; he sits down full of honours and peace. And his was the time of joy also. Then, for the first time, songs broke out from the middle of the congregation of Israel. Long before, Moses had appointed sacrifices, but the tabernacle had never heard songs.
Solomon's reign pictures the peace of Christ's coming rule. But one writer says the picture needs his father's wars too.
It may not have been so generally seen that it takes both David's reign and Solomon's to give the complete picture of the millennial period. David reigned at Hebron for seven years before he reigned at Jerusalem, and even after all the tribes accepted him as king he fought one long series of wars with Israel's enemies all around. Solomon, as his name shows, was the peaceful prince. David stands as the picture of "the Lion of the tribe of Judah." But it is in Solomon's reign that we see the divine picture of the peaceful glories of Christ's kingdom.
Yet the picture has its limit. Even this prince of peace kept an army.
Solomon did not disarm: he gathered 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen. Truly every picture falls short! When He who is "greater than Solomon" reigns in Jerusalem, men "shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." Then "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."
- Plot. Adonijah's rush to the throne did not stop God's choice. His haste only made Solomon's title surer.
- Oil. The gladness starts with an anointing at Gihon, not with the crowd. The people's shout agrees with God's choice; it does not create it.
- Sound. Rest produces song. With no war left to fight, Solomon's reign was the first time Israel's worship broke into music.
- Dread. The world's authority, its force, and its religion were feasting together when that shout reached them. The noise that gladdened the city terrified the table.
- Shadow. Solomon's day is a faint sketch. The full joy waits for the One greater than Solomon, when swords become farm tools and war is not learned again.