5 Then Adonijah, the son of Haggith, lifting himself up in pride, said, I will become king; and he made ready his carriages of war and his horsemen, with fifty runners to go before him.
And the fourth, Adonijah, the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah, the son of Abital;
Now after this, Absalom got for himself a carriage and horses, and fifty runners to go before him.
Then see that you take as your king the man named by the Lord your God: let your king be one of your countrymen, not a man of another nation who is not one of yourselves. And he is not to get together a great army of horses for himself, or make the people go back to Egypt to get horses for him: because the Lord has said, You will never again go back that way.
Say now in the ears of all the townsmen of Shechem, Is it better for you to be ruled by all the seventy sons of Jerubbaal or by one man only? And keep in mind that I am your bone and your flesh.
Now by the living Lord, who has given me my place on the seat of David my father, and made me one of a line of kings, as he gave me his word, truly Adonijah will be put to death this day.
The third Absalom, the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth Adonijah, the son of Haggith;
And David said, Solomon my son is young and untested, and the house which is to be put up for the Lord is to be very great, a thing of wonder and glory through all countries; so I will make ready what is needed for it. So David got ready a great store of material before his death. Then he sent for his son Solomon, and gave him orders for the building of a house for the Lord, the God of Israel. And David said to Solomon, My son, it was my desire to put up a house for the name of the Lord my God. But the word of the Lord came to me saying, You have taken lives without number and made great wars; I will not let you be the builder of a house for my name, because of the lives you have taken on the earth before my eyes. But you will have a son who will be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from wars on every side. His name will be Solomon, and in his time I will give Israel peace and quiet; He will be the builder of a house for my name; he will be to me a son, and I will be to him a father; and I will make the seat of his rule over Israel certain for ever. Now, my son, may the Lord be with you; and may you do well, and put up the house of the Lord your God, as he has said of you.
And of all my sons (for the Lord has given me a great number of sons) he has made selection of Solomon to take his place on the seat of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.
And David the king said to all the people, Solomon my son, the only one who has been marked out by God, is still young and untested, and the work is great, for this great house is not for man, but for the Lord God.
Before destruction the heart of man is full of pride, and before honour goes a gentle spirit.
And their land is full of silver and gold, and there is no end to their stores; their land is full of horses, and there is no end to their carriages.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Kings 1
Commentary on 1 Kings 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The First Book of Kings
Chapter 1
In this chapter we have,
1Ki 1:1-4
David, as recorded in the foregoing chapter, had, by the great mercy of God, escaped the sword of the destroying angel. But our deliverances from or through diseases and dangers are but reprieves; if the candle be not blown out, it will burn out of itself. We have David here sinking under the infirmities of old age, and brought by them to the gates of the grave. He that cometh up out of the pit shall fall into the snare; and, one way or other, we must needs die.
1Ki 1:5-10
David had much affliction in his children. Amnon and Absalom had both been his grief; the one his first-born, the other his third, 2 Sa. 3:2, 3. His second, whom he had by Abigail, we will suppose he had comfort in; his fourth was Adonijah (2 Sa. 3:4); he was one of those that were born in Hebron; we have heard nothing of him till now, and here we are told that he was a comely person, and that he was next in age, and (as it proved) next in temper to Absalom, v. 6. And, further, that in his father's eyes he had been a jewel, but was now a thorn.
1Ki 1:11-31
We have here the effectual endeavours that were used by Nathan and Bathsheba to obtain from David a ratification of Solomon's succession, for the crushing of Adonijah's usurpation.
1Ki 1:32-40
We have here the effectual care David took both to secure Solomon's right and to preserve the public peace, by crushing Adonijah's project in the bud. Observe,
1Ki 1:41-53
We have here,