And the king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord and have Solomon my son ride on my 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.
Gihon, the rival valley
The place David picks is not neutral ground:
Leslie M. GrantDavid 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.
The king's own mule
Horses came later. The animal David names belongs to a plainer time, and Solomon's own proverb about horses sharpens the point:
W. W. FeredayIn 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."
David lets the throne go
The mule was David's, and so was the throne. He hands over both while he is still alive:
The Bible TreasuryAll 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.
Priest, prophet, and captain
One of the men David sends is a prophet. That makes this more than a family arrangement:
J. N. DarbyGod 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.
The plot that backfired
Adonijah's side had planned carefully, and the planning failed:
J. N. DarbyBut 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 throne of Jehovah
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:
William KellyWell, 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.
A shadow of a greater coronation
The anointing at Gihon ended in great rejoicing, and one writer looks past it:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe 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.
Summary
- 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.