Verses 41-53
The Rebels Learn Of Solomon’s Coronation And Disperse Quietly While Adonijah Seeks Sanctuary At The Altar And Finally Receives Mercy (1 Kings 1:41-53 ).
In view of the silence about the succession those who had gone with Adonijah had not as yet committed any specific offence. They had simply been guilty of presumption. (It was not an attempt to dethrone David, but to make clear who was suitable to be his co-regent). But now that Solomon had been officially anointed as king with the clear confirmation of David himself any further proceedings would have been seen as high treason. Thus on hearing the celebrations from the city, and learning what their significance was, the party broke up. No one wanted to be seen as a traitor. Adonijah, however, no doubt feeling guilty about what he had intended to do to Solomon, fled for sanctuary at the altar, presumably at the Tabernacle (probably by now in Gibeon), for he would not have wanted to take the risk of entering Jerusalem. But Solomon was not seeking vengeance and assured him that as long as he remained fully loyal in the future no harm would come to him.
Analysis.
a And Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the ram’s horn, he said, “What is the cause of this noise of the citadel being in an uproar?” (1 Kings 1:41).
b While he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came, and Adonijah said, “Come in, for you are a worthy man, and bring good tidings” (1 Kings 1:42).
c And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, “Truly our lord king David has made Solomon king, and the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and they have caused him to ride on the king’s mule, and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon, and they are come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard” (1 Kings 1:43-46 a).
d “And also Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom, and what is more the king’s servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, “Your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne” (1 Kings 1:46-47 a).
e And the king bowed himself on the bed (1 Kings 1:47 b).
d And also thus said the king, “Blessed be YHWH, the God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne this day, my eyes even seeing it” (1 Kings 1:48).
c And all the guests of Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way. And Adonijah was afraid because of Solomon, and he arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar (1 Kings 1:49-50).
b And it was told to Solomon, saying, “Behold, Adonijah is afraid king Solomon, for, lo, he has laid hold on the horns of the altar, saying, “Let king Solomon swear to me first that he will not slay his servant with the sword.” And Solomon said, “If he shall show himself a worthy man, there will not a hair of him fall to the earth, but if wickedness be found in him, he shall die” (1 Kings 1:51-52).
a So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and did obeisance to king Solomon, and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house” (1 Kings 1:53).
Note that in ‘a’ Adonijah was supping confidently with his friends and wondered what the uproar in the city was, and in the parallel Adonijah was brought cravenly before the king, having discovered what the uproar was all about. In ‘b’ Jonathan was welcomed by Adonijah as a worthy man, and in the parallel Adonijah learned that as long as he himself was a worthy man he would be allowed to live. In ‘c’ the news of the coronation and of Solomon’s success was announced to the rebels in detail, and in the parallel the result was that the rebels slipped away and Adonijah sought sanctuary at the altar. In ‘d’ the servants of David blessed David because Solomon was now seated on the throne and in the parallel David blessed YHWH because he has lived to ‘see’ one of his house sitting on the throne. Centrally in ‘e’ David on his sick bed had bowed himself before YHWH at the great news, acknowledging that the will of YHWH had been done.
‘ And Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the ram’s horn, he said, “What is the cause of this noise of the citadel being in an uproar?” ’
The noise being caused by the celebrations was so loud that it reached the ears of Adonijah and his guests as they were coming towards the end of their period of feasting, a period which may have lasted some days. Joab’s trained ear, however, picked out the sound of the ram’s horn. This caused him to make a general query as to what might be going on. Why should the ram’s horn be sounding in the citadel? And why should there be such an uproar there? It was a question to which they all wanted an answer. The word for ‘citadel’ is a rare one, but it was an ancient word for it was also attested at Ugarit.
‘ While he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came, and Adonijah said, “Come in, for you are a worthy man, and bring good tidings.” ’
But then at that very moment they received the answer to their questions, for Jonathan, Abiathar’s son, arrived, bringing news. The fact that, as Abiathar’s son, he had not been at the feasting suggests either that he had been on duty with the king and unable to get away, or that he had been asked to remain in Jerusalem as a kind of spy in order to keep his ear open to what was happening. He had fulfilled a similar function for David (2 Samuel 15:27; 2 Samuel 17:17). The latter seems more likely as, had he been on official duty, absenting himself from the celebrations would have been heavily frowned on. This in itself would suggest some apprehension on Adonijah’s part right from the start.
The fact that he arrived himself rather than sending a servant suggested to Adonijah that he brought good news. People usually only delivered news in person when it was good. Compare 2 Samuel 18:27. ‘Worthy’ indicates a man of property, a man whose word was trustworthy and reliable, and who was a freeman and not a servant. Such a man would not want to destroy his reputation by bringing bad news.
‘ And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, “Truly our lord king David has made Solomon king, and the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and they have caused him to ride on the king’s mule, and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon, and they are come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard. And also Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom.” ’
But Jonathan had probably taken into account the fact that suggesting that his news was bad by using a servant could have been taken as treasonable. For strictly the news should have been seen as good news. It was purportedly indicating that David had ensured the peaceful continuation of the kingship.
He described in some detail the essential elements of his news, and of the reason for the noise. The make-up of the powerful group who had been involved, combined with the fact that Solomon had ridden on the king’s own mule, and had been anointed by Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet (Zadok would of course have done the anointing, but Nathan was there as adding prophetic authority), said all that needed to be said. Solomon’s was not an attempt at a counter-coup carried out at his own instigation (as Adonijah’s had been) but was something carried out on the personal orders of the king. ‘Rang again’ may have been looking back to when the Ark had been brought into the citadel which had rung with joyous cries and the sound of a ram’s horn (2 Samuel 6:15), or to when David had returned after defeating Absalom, when no doubt the same thing had happened. Both were momentous royal occasions.
That then was the reason for the noise that they had heard. And its consequence was that Solomon now sat on the throne of the kingdom (as co-regent with David).
‘ And what is more the king’s servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, “Your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne,” and the king bowed himself on the bed.’
And what was more, when the king’s servants (Zadok, Nathan, Benaiah and all the court officials) had arrived back in the citadel, they had entered the king’s presence in order to bring blessing on David by praying that God would make the name of Solomon (his position and reputation, and recognition of his person) even greater than David’s, and Solomon’s throne even greater than David’s throne. This was an expression of approval of David’s choice, but deliberately going over the top and not intended to be taken too literally, except in the fact that it would lead on to the everlasting kingdom. And then at their words David had bowed himself before YHWH on his bed and had added his praise and prayer to theirs. All were clear that it was YHWH Who was at work.
‘ And also thus said the king, “Blessed be YHWH, the God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne this day, my eyes even seeing it.” ’
For the king himself had praised YHWH, the God of Israel, because He had Himself provided someone to sit on David’s throne while David was alive to see it. He had fulfilled His promise to David of a trueborn seed who would follow after him (2 Samuel 7:12), thus establishing a dynasty. Note that all were acknowledging that the choice was of YHWH. It is the fact that YHWH’s will was being accomplished in spite of the activities of man that lies at the heart of this narrative.
‘ And all the guests of Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way.’
The news shattered the party spirit, and filled the guests with apprehension. What they were now doing had taken on a new perspective. And they all with one accord left the feast and slunk away. They no longer wanted to be seen as involved with Adonijah.
‘ And Adonijah was afraid because of Solomon, and he arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.’
Meanwhile Adonijah was terrified. He was fully aware of what he had intended to do with Solomon, and now it would be open to Solomon to do the same to him. For what he had been doing could now be given the appearance of being high treason. Everything would depend on how Solomon looked at it. Consequently he arose and went to the Tabernacle at Gibeon and took hold of the horns of the altar in order to claim ‘sanctuary’. (It was not likely that he would venture into Jerusalem in order to do this. He would consider in his panic-stricken condition that Solomon might well already have had men out on the watch for him).
The right to sanctuary as a result of being in physical touch with a holy object was a widely recognised one. The idea was probably, in Israel’s case, that the person became holy to YHWH as a result of the contact and therefore untouchable, unless and until his guilt was proved (see Exodus 21:12-14. Compare Numbers 35:6). He was thereby claiming the protection of the Deity as one who was innocent. Proof of his guilt would, however, nullify his status and turn him into a blasphemer in that he would then be seen as obtaining YHWH’s protection under false pretences.
The ‘horns’ of the altar were the four projections on the altar going upwards from each corner. Such horned altars have been discovered at Beersheba, Gezer, Megiddo, and Dan. It was to these projections that sacrifices were tied (Exodus 27:2). Later the breaking off of such ‘horns’ from the altar at Bethel would be an indication to Israel that they no longer enjoyed the deity’s protection (Amos 3:14).
‘ And it was told to Solomon, saying, “Behold, Adonijah is afraid king Solomon, for, lo, he has laid hold on the horns of the altar, saying, “Let king Solomon swear to me first that he will not slay his servant with the sword.” ’
The news of what Adonijah had done was brought to Solomon along with Adonijah’s assertion that he would not leave his place of sanctuary until ‘king Solomon’ had sworn that he would not have him executed. Note the reference to Solomon as ‘king Solomon’. He was thereby acknowledging Solomon as his liege lord.
‘ And Solomon said, “If he shall show himself a worthy man, there will not a hair of him fall to the earth, but if wickedness be found in him, he shall die.” ’
Solomon’s reply was to the effect that he would be given a pardon with a sting in its tail. While he showed himself loyal and behaved honourably as a ‘worthy and free man’ he would be safe from harm. Should he, however, at any stage act dishonourably or prove disloyal he could be sure that he would die.
‘ So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and did obeisance to king Solomon, and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.” ’
With these words Solomon sent escorts and had Adonijah brought to the palace, presumably in all honour as a son of David, where Adonijah made obeisance to the king. Peace was restored between them and Solomon then sent him ‘to his house’. It will, however, be noted that he did not add the words ‘in peace’ (see 2 Kings 5:19; Judges 18:6; 1Sa 1:17 ; 1 Samuel 20:42; 1 Samuel 29:7). That was a reminder that questions still hung in the air. He was on probation. Adonijah was being restored to his former position, conditionally on good behaviour, but he would from now on have to avoid even a whiff of treachery. That he was fully restored comes out in that he was later easily able to approach Bathsheba and receive a comparatively friendly welcome (1 Kings 2:13-18).
Solomon’s magnanimity was in line with the previous practise of kings of Israel on their being enthroned or restored to the throne through the goodness of YHWH. Compare the example of Saul in 1 Samuel 11:13; and of David in 2 Samuel 19:22. General amnesties were often given at coronations, although not to those who actively continued to oppose the king.
One obvious lesson from this passage is, ‘be sure your sin will find you out’. It is a reminder that if we involve ourselves in things that are chancy we must not be surprised if we get our fingers burnt. And this is especially so if they are contrary to the will of God. If only Adonijah and his friends had sought to ascertain God’s will before acting in the first place, they would not have found themselves in this situation.
A second lesson is that God ever provides for us a place of sanctuary where we can flee when we have sinned. In our case we do not cling to the horns of an altar, but to our Lord Jesus Christ Who is our Altar, and our Sacrifice (Hebrews 13:10; Hebrews 13:12). In Him we can find a perfect refuge, and find cleansing from all our sins (1 John 1:7).
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