Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground and paid homage to the king and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”
David has just sworn that Solomon will sit on his throne that very day. Bathsheba answers with a deep bow and a cry for the king's long life. Two questions follow. Why does a woman whose own life was in danger bow low instead of showing relief? And what does it mean to wish endless life on a dying man?
Homage, not flattery
Her bow was the ordinary language of respect in that world. One reference work sets out what the gesture could mean:
Morrish Bible DictionaryBowing was an act of respect between one person and another, very common in the East. Abraham bowed before the people of the land when he bought a burial place for his dead (Genesis 23:7, 12). It was also an act of reverence to God (Psalm 95:6). But God forbade it before an idol or image (Exodus 20:5), and treated it as an act of worship.
What hung on David's word
The stakes were life and death. Adonijah had already taken the crown, and if David let that stand, Bathsheba's household was finished:
Leslie M. GrantShe told David that the eyes of all Israel were on him. They wanted to see what he would do now. For if he let the crowning of Adonijah stand, Bathsheba and Solomon would count as offenders, and that would cost them their lives.
The oath David kept
David tied the promise she bows over to the God who had rescued him:
Leslie M. GrantDavid called Bathsheba back into his presence. He swore to her by the Lord who had redeemed him from all his troubles. He had sworn before by the Lord God of Israel, and now he would carry out that oath — and carry it out "this day", making Solomon king in David's place.
An old man's strength returns
David is old, and he knows nothing of the plot. One writer traces how fast that changes once the matter touches his chosen son:
H. L. RossierThe aged king needed urging to reveal his secret. Then he decides at once: all his energy returns when the matter concerns the Beloved.
Respect and boldness
The same writer weighs how Bathsheba spoke to the king:
H. L. RossierBathsheba speaks with respect and boldness. She shows David that he does not see the danger. She reminds him that he had resolved to have a king after the heart of God as his successor. She also points out his responsibility towards herself, her son, and the people. The truth is in the heart of this woman, and in the heart of the prophet too — a lovely example of the spirit in which we should treat one another.
The throne behind the throne
Bathsheba was not bowing to a father's preference for one son. One writer weighs what Adonijah was really doing:
William KellyThis was not mere ambition in Adonijah. In someone who knew nothing of the word of God and the will of Jehovah for Israel, it would have been ambition. But if we have an incomparable blessing in the word of God, our responsibility is far greater, and sin takes on a new character. So Adonijah's sin was not merely ambition. It was not even merely rebellion against the king, against David. It was rebellion against Jehovah.
This throne was unlike any other:
William KellyOn the other hand, it was not a matter of God's people as such. What made the throne in Israel remarkable was this: here was a king by God's election — the only king who was so in the full sense of the word. Nebuchadnezzar reigned by God's providence, no doubt. But there was more than providence in the throne of Israel. The reason is simple. The throne of Israel was in a very true and real sense the throne of Jehovah.
The wish only one King answers
The wish for endless life outran the man, but not his line:
The Bible TreasuryThere was always a man whose birthright it was to sit upon David's throne. Unworthiness was found in each, but the line of descent continues till Christ came. He is the Man on Whom the Holy Spirit looks. In Him there was, and is, the divine right as well as the human title. He is the Son of God as well as Son of David. Whatever comes between the promise and its fulfilment, He will certainly sit there.
Summary
- Word. David's oath, not Adonijah's crowning, decided who would reign. He swore it by the God who had redeemed him from all his troubles.
- Truth. Bathsheba spoke with respect and boldness, setting the danger before the king — an example of how we should treat one another.
- Rebellion. Adonijah's move was worse than ambition. Where God's will is known, greater light gives sin a new character.
- Throne. Israel's kingship was not ordinary providence but God's own election — in a real sense the throne of the Lord.
- Forever. No son of David held that throne for ever. The wish waits on Christ, who holds both the divine right and the human title, and who will certainly sit there.