19So Bathsheba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. The king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right. 20Then she said, “I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you.” 21She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.” 22King Solomon answered his mother, “And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom as well! For he is my elder brother; ask not only for him but also for the priest Abiathar and for Joab son of Zeruiah!” 23Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, “So may God do to me, and more also, for Adonijah has devised this scheme at the risk of his life! 24Now therefore as the LORD lives, who has established me and placed me on the throne of my father David, and who has made me a house as he promised, today Adonijah shall be put to death.” 25So King Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he struck him down, and he died.
26The king said to the priest Abiathar, “Go to Anathoth, to your estate; for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David, and because you shared in all the hardships my father endured.” 27So Solomon banished Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, thus fulfilling the word of the LORD that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
28When the news came to Joab—for Joab had supported Adonijah though he had not supported Absalom—Joab fled to the tent of the LORD and grasped the horns of the altar. 29When it was told King Solomon, “Joab has fled to the tent of the LORD and now is beside the altar,” Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down.” 30So Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD and said to him, “The king commands, ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, I will die here.” Then Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.” 31The king replied to him, “Do as he has said, strike him down and bury him; and thus take away from me and from my father’s house the guilt for the blood that Joab shed without cause. 32The LORD will bring back his bloody deeds on his own head, because, without the knowledge of my father David, he attacked and killed with the sword two men more righteous and better than himself, Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. 33So shall their blood come back on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever; but to David, and to his descendants, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace from the LORD forevermore.” 34Then Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck him down and killed him; and he was buried at his own house near the wilderness. 35The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king put the priest Zadok in the place of Abiathar.
36Then the king sent and summoned Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and live there, and do not go out from there to any place whatever. 37For on the day you go out, and cross the Wadi Kidron, know for certain that you shall die; your blood shall be on your own head.” 38And Shimei said to the king, “The sentence is fair; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.
39But it happened at the end of three years that two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to King Achish son of Maacah of Gath. When it was told Shimei, “Your slaves are in Gath,” 40Shimei arose and saddled a donkey, and went to Achish in Gath, to search for his slaves; Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath. 41When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned, 42the king sent and summoned Shimei, and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD, and solemnly adjure you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and go to any place whatever, you shall die’? And you said to me, ‘The sentence is fair; I accept.’ 43Why then have you not kept your oath to the LORD and the commandment with which I charged you?” 44The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your own heart all the evil that you did to my father David; so the LORD will bring back your evil on your own head. 45But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever.” 46Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada; and he went out and struck him down, and he died.
So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
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2.1–9 The dying David’s advice to Solomon is an example of a common literary genre, the farewell speech. In the OT such speeches often serve to mark important turning points in Israel’s history and to provide a theological interpretive framework for subsequent events (Gen 47.29–50.14; Josh 23–24; Deut 33–34; 1 Macc 2.49–70).
2.2–4 David’s opening exhortation contains strong echoes of Deuteronomy (Deut 4.29, 40; 6.5; 8.6; 10.12; 11.1, 22; cf. Josh 23.14). Solomon is urged to emulate the ideal Deuteronomic king by keeping the Mosaic law (Deut 17.14–20). Only if he is obedient will God fulfill the promise made to David that his dynasty will be eternal (2 Sam 7.12–16). This stress on the conditional character of God’s promise is a hallmark of Deuteronomistic theology.
2.5–6 Abner, the former commander of Saul’s army, killed Joab ’s brother Asahel during the turbulent years of fighting between Israel and Judah that followed Saul’s death and was subsequently slain by Joab (2 Sam 3.22–30). Amasa replaced Joab as commander of the army during Absalom’s revolt against David and then remained in that position after the king returned to power. Amasa’s delay in quelling a later rebellion provoked Joab to kill him (2 Sam 17.25; 19.11–15; 20.4–10). Both killings could have been considered justifiable under the circumstances.
2.7 Barzillai provided food for David and his supporters during Absalom’s revolt (2 Sam 17.27–29; 19.31–40). Being invited to eat at the king’s table was considered a mark of royal favor (2 Sam 9.7; 19.28; 1 Kings 18.19; 2 Kings 25.29; Neh 5.17).
2.8 When David fled from Jerusalem in the wake of Absalom’s revolt, Shimei cursed the king for killing members of Saul’s family in order to remove rivals to the throne (2 Sam 16.5–13). Although David later swore not to kill Shimei (2 Sam 19.16–23), Solomon would not have been bound by that oath.
2.10–12 In David’s time Jerusalem was considered the king’s personal property (2 Sam 5.9). David in fact ruled over all Israel, Judah and Israel together, for thirty-three years. In Hebron he ruled Judah alone for seven years and six months (2 Sam 5.4–5).
2.13–46 The narrator may feel that Solomon’s throne was firmly established immediately after David’s death (v. 12), but Solomon himself feels it necessary to secure his kingdom by eliminating anyone who might be a threat to his power.
2.13–25 Abishag ’s status in the court was ambiguous because of her unusual relationship with David (cf. 1.1–4), but Solomon clearly considers her to be a concubine. In this period royal concubines normally became the property of the new king (2 Sam 3.6–7; 12.8; 16.21–22), so Solomon interprets Adonijah’s request as a threat and uses it as a pretext to have him killed (vv. 22–25). The text is silent on the question of whether or not Bathsheba anticipated this result. The extraordinary deference shown to her by Solomon (vv. 19–20) is, however, an indication of the power and status the queen mother enjoyed in the Judean royal court.
2.26–27 Abiathar supported Adonijah in the struggle over the succession (see 1.7). Anathoth, about three miles northeast of Jerusalem. Abiathar’s descendants, some of whom were still in Anathoth at the beginning of the exile (Jer 1.1; 32.7–8), saw his loss of priestly status in Jerusalem as the fulfillment of God’s oracle of judgment against the priestly house of Eli for their corrupt management of the old shrine at Shiloh (1 Sam 2.27–36).
2.28–35 Joab rightly suspects that Solomon is conducting a purge of Adonijah’s supporters and therefore seeks sanctuary at the altar associated with the tent shrine that David had set up to house the ark of God (2 Sam 6.17). Yet Solomon chooses not to consider Joab eligible to cl
aim the protection of the altar (see note on 1 Kings 1.49–53). After Joab’s death, Benaiah, who had been commander of David’s private army and an early supporter of Solomon (1.8), becomes commander of the regular army as well.
2.36–46 Even though David counseled Solomon to kill Shimei (see vv. 8–9), the king instead places him under house arrest in Jerusalem.
2.37 Wadi Kidron, the valley to the east of Jerusalem between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives; Shimei was in effect confined to the city.
2.39 Shimei’s ill-considered trip to Gath on the coastal plain is a blatant violation of his agreement with Solomon.
1 KINGS 3
Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom
1Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt; he took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the city of David, until he had finished building his own house and the house of the LORD and the wall around Jerusalem. 2The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the LORD.
3Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David; only, he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places. 4The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” 6And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. 7And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. 9Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”
10It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. 13I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. 14If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”
15Then Solomon awoke; it had been a dream. He came to Jerusalem where he stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. He offered up burnt offerings and offerings of well-being, and provided a feast for all his servants.
Solomon’s Wisdom in Judgment
16Later, two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17The one woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. 18Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together; there was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us were in the house. 19Then this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant slept. She laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. 21When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, I saw that he was dead; but when I looked at him closely in the morning, clearly it was not the son I had borne.” 22But the other woman said, “No, the living son is mine, and the dead son is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead son is yours, and the living son is mine.” So they argued before the king.
23Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’ while the other says, ‘Not so! Your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’” 24So the king said, “Bring me a sword,” and they brought a sword before the king. 25The king said, “Divide the living boy in two; then give half to the one, and half to the other.” 26But the woman whose son was alive said to the king—because compassion for her son burned within her—“Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him!” The other said, “It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it.” 27Then the king responded: “Give the first woman the living boy; do not kill him. She is his mother.” 28All Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered; and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute justice.
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3.1–15 Solomon’s dream at Gibeon not only provides divine legitimation for his reign but also indicates the degree to which his kingship at its best will conform to Deuteronomic theological ideals (Deut 17.14–20).
3.1–2 At the beginning of the account the narrator makes two introductory remarks that indicate both Solomon’s growing power and the seeds of his eventual downfall. His political alliance with an unnamed king of Egypt indicates that Solomon is now powerful enough to be part of the world of international politics. He is also to become one of Israel’s most famous builders, expanding David’s original city, fortifying the walls, and building an elaborate royal palace and a splendid temple so that worship could take place appropriately at one site. Solomon, however, also follows the common imperial practice of cementing political alliances with marriages (2 Sam 3.2–5; 5.13), and he participates in or at least tolerates the worship of his wives’ native gods in Jerusalem, a situation that ultimately leads to his downfall (ch. 11).
3.2 High places, open-air platforms or shrines where sacrifices and other religious activities took place before the building of the temple. The Lord was sometimes worshiped at the high places, but other deities were worshiped there as well. The Deuteronomistic narrator considered them illegitimate after the building of the temple and often notes their continued use in Judah until Hezekiah’s reign (15.14; 22.43; 2 Kings 12.3; 14.4; 15.4, 35; 16.4; 18.4).
3.3 Statutes of…David, Mosaic law, which David himself followed, rather than laws David promulgated (see 3.14; 9.4–5).
3.4 Gibeon (modern el-Jib), about five and a half miles northwest of Jerusalem, was a Hivite enclave well into monarchical times (Josh 9.3–10.15; 2 Sam 21.1–9). The city was an important worship center by Solomon’s day, but its early connections with Israelite worship are uncertain (1 Chr 16.39; 21.29; 2 Chr 1.3, 13).
3.5 Many Israelites considered the dream to be a normal means of divine revelation (but see Jer 23.23–32). Revelatory dreams took various forms and sometimes contained dialogues of the sort described here (Gen 20.3–7; 26.24; 28.12–16; 1 Sam 3.1–15; 28.6).
3.6 Steadfast love, God’s faithfulness to the demands of the covenant between God and Israel (as expressed in the Mosaic law) and between God and David (as expressed in 2 Sam 7). By invoking the covenant in this context, Solomon indicates his desire to enter into the same relationship with God that his father, David, had accepted.
3.7 A little child…not know how to go out or come in, not to be taken literally (see 11.42; 14.21), an expression of humility designed to indicate the king’s willingness to be God’s servant (vv. 6–9) and to accept divine instruction concerning the duties of kingship.
3.9 Understanding mind, lit. “listening heart.” The heart was considered both the seat of the intellect and an organ of perception, so a listening heart is one open to divine direction. Only such a heart is capable of governing God’s people and distinguishing good from evil.
3.16–28 The fruit of divine wisdom is immediately apparent in this story meant to illustrate Solomon’s success as a judge. Stories of a similar sort are found in other cultures, and it is likely that this tale was part of an oral collection of Solomonic stories before it was incorporated into Kings.
1 KINGS 4
Solomon’s Administrative Officers
1K
ing Solomon was king over all Israel,2and these were his high officials: Azariah son of Zadok was the priest; 3Elihoreph and Ahijah sons of Shisha were secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; 4Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in command of the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests; 5Azariah son of Nathan was over the officials; Zabud son of Nathan was priest and king’s friend; 6Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor.
7Solomon had twelve officials over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household; each one had to make provision for one month in the year. 8These were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim; 9Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan; 10Benhesed, in Arubboth (to him belonged Socoh and all the land of Hepher); 11Ben-abinadab, in all Naphath-dor (he had Taphath, Solomon’s daughter, as his wife); 12Baana son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean, which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, and from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as the other side of Jokmeam; 13Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (he had the villages of Jair son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, and he had the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars); 14Ahinadab son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; 15Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he had taken Base-Zmath, Solomon’s daughter, as his wife); 16Baana son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth; 17Jehoshaphat son of Paruah, in Issachar; 18Shimei son of Ela, in Benjamin; 19Geber son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of King Sihon of the Amorites and of King Og of Bashan. And there was one official in the land of Judah.
HarperCollins Study Bible Page 139
