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1 Kings 1: What the Passage Says

173 claims across 53 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What 1 Kings 1 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

King David is old and cannot keep warm, so his servants bring a young woman, Abishag, to care for him. While David is failing, his son Adonijah declares himself king and holds a feast with Joab and Abiathar the priest, leaving out Nathan, Benaiah, Zadok, and Solomon. Nathan and Bathsheba go to David and remind him of his oath that Solomon would reign, and David orders Solomon anointed king at Gihon that same day. When Adonijah's guests hear the crowd, they scatter in fear, and Adonijah grabs the horns of the altar until Solomon sends him home with a conditional pardon.

Claim by Claim

  1. 1:1
    • King David was old and advanced in years.
    • They covered David with clothes.
    • David did not get warm.
  2. 1:2
    • David's servants said to him that a young virgin should be sought for their lord the king.
    • The servants said she should stand before the king.
    • The servants said she should be his attendant and care for him.
    • The servants said she should lie in David's bosom.
    • The servants said the result would be that their lord the king would get warm.
  3. 1:3
    • They sought a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel.
    • They found Abishag the Shunammite.
    • They brought Abishag to the king.
  4. 1:4
    • The young woman was exceedingly beautiful.
    • She became the king's attendant and cared for him.
    • She served the king.
    • The king did not have sexual relations with her.
  5. 1:5
    • Adonijah was the son of Haggith.
    • Adonijah exalted himself.
    • Adonijah said, I will be king.
    • Adonijah acquired for himself a chariot and horsemen.
    • Adonijah acquired fifty men to run before him.
  6. 1:6
    • Adonijah's father had never at any time grieved or rebuked him by asking why he had acted so.
    • Adonijah was very handsome in form.
    • Adonijah was born after Absalom.
  7. 1:7
    • Adonijah's dealings were with Joab the son of Zeruiah.
    • Adonijah's dealings were with Abiathar the priest.
    • Joab and Abiathar followed Adonijah and helped him.
  8. 1:8
    • Zadok the priest was not with Adonijah.
    • Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was not with Adonijah.
    • Nathan the prophet was not with Adonijah.
    • Shimei was not with Adonijah.
    • Rei was not with Adonijah.
    • David's mighty men were not with Adonijah.
  9. 1:9
    • Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened cattle.
    • The sacrifice was by the stone of Zoheleth.
    • The stone of Zoheleth is beside En-rogel.
    • Adonijah invited all his brothers, the king's sons.
    • Adonijah invited all the men of Judah, the king's servants.
  10. 1:10
    • Adonijah did not invite Nathan the prophet.
    • Adonijah did not invite Benaiah.
    • Adonijah did not invite the mighty men.
    • Adonijah did not invite his brother Solomon.
  11. 1:11
    • Nathan spoke to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon.
    • Nathan asked Bathsheba whether she had not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith had become king.
    • Nathan said that their lord David did not know it.
  12. 1:12
    • Nathan told Bathsheba to come now.
    • Nathan offered to give her counsel.
    • Nathan said the counsel was so she could save her own life.
    • Nathan said the counsel was so she could save the life of her son Solomon.
  13. 1:13
    • Nathan told Bathsheba to go in to King David.
    • Nathan told her to ask David whether he had not sworn to his handmaid that Solomon her son would reign after him.
    • Nathan told her to say the oath included that Solomon would sit on David's throne.
    • Nathan told her to ask why then Adonijah had become king.
  14. 1:14
    • Nathan said that while she was still speaking there with the king, he would come in after her.
    • Nathan said he would confirm her words.
  15. 1:15
    • Bathsheba went in to the king in the chamber.
    • The king was very old.
    • Abishag the Shunammite was serving the king.
  16. 1:16
    • Bathsheba bowed down and did obeisance to the king.
    • The king asked her what she wanted.
  17. 1:17
    • Bathsheba said to David that he had sworn by the LORD his God to his handmaid.
    • She said the oath was that Solomon her son would reign after him.
    • She said the oath was that Solomon would sit on David's throne.
  18. 1:18
    • Bathsheba said that now Adonijah had become king.
    • Bathsheba said that her lord the king did not know it.
  19. 1:19
    • Bathsheba said Adonijah had sacrificed oxen, fattened cattle, and sheep in abundance.
    • Bathsheba said Adonijah had invited all the sons of the king.
    • Bathsheba said Adonijah had invited Abiathar the priest.
    • Bathsheba said Adonijah had invited Joab the commander of the army.
    • Bathsheba said Adonijah had not invited Solomon, David's servant.
  20. 1:20
    • Bathsheba said the eyes of all Israel were upon her lord the king.
    • She said they looked to him to tell them who would sit on the throne of her lord the king after him.
  21. 1:21
    • Bathsheba said that when her lord the king slept with his fathers, she and her son Solomon would be counted as offenders.
  22. 1:22
    • While Bathsheba was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived.
  23. 1:23
    • They told the king that Nathan the prophet was there.
    • Nathan came in before the king.
    • Nathan bowed to the king with his face to the ground.
  24. 1:24
    • Nathan asked the king whether he had said that Adonijah would reign after him.
    • Nathan asked whether he had said Adonijah would sit on his throne.
  25. 1:25
    • Nathan said Adonijah had gone down that day.
    • Nathan said Adonijah had sacrificed oxen, fattened cattle, and sheep in abundance.
    • Nathan said Adonijah had invited all the king's sons.
    • Nathan said Adonijah had invited the commanders of the army.
    • Nathan said Adonijah had invited Abiathar the priest.
    • Nathan said they were eating and drinking before Adonijah.
    • Nathan said they were saying, Long live King Adonijah.
  26. 1:26
    • Nathan said Adonijah had not invited him, David's servant.
    • Nathan said Adonijah had not invited Zadok the priest.
    • Nathan said Adonijah had not invited Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.
    • Nathan said Adonijah had not invited Solomon, David's servant.
  27. 1:27
    • Nathan asked whether this thing had been done by his lord the king.
    • Nathan said the king had not made known to his servant who should sit on the throne of his lord the king after him.
  28. 1:28
    • King David answered and said to call Bathsheba to him.
    • Bathsheba came into the king's presence.
    • Bathsheba stood before the king.
  29. 1:29
    • The king swore an oath.
    • The king said, As the LORD lives.
    • The king said the LORD had redeemed his life out of all distress.
  30. 1:30
    • David said he had sworn to Bathsheba by the LORD, the God of Israel.
    • David said the oath was that Solomon her son would reign after him.
    • David said the oath was that Solomon would sit on his throne in his place.
    • David said he would do exactly so that very day.
  31. 1:31
    • Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth.
    • Bathsheba did obeisance to the king.
    • Bathsheba said, Let my lord King David live forever.
  32. 1:32
    • King David said to call to him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.
    • They came before the king.
  33. 1:33
    • The king told them to take with them the servants of their lord.
    • The king told them to set his son Solomon on the king's own mule.
    • The king told them to bring Solomon down to Gihon.
  34. 1:34
    • The king said Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet were to anoint Solomon there as king over Israel.
    • The king told them to blow the ram's horn.
    • The king told them to say, Long live King Solomon.
  35. 1:35
    • The king said they should come up after Solomon.
    • The king said Solomon would come and sit on his throne.
    • The king said Solomon would be king in his place.
    • The king said he had appointed Solomon to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.
  36. 1:36
    • Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king.
    • Benaiah said, Amen.
    • Benaiah said may the LORD, the God of his lord the king, say so too.
  37. 1:37
    • Benaiah said that as the LORD had been with his lord the king, so may He be with Solomon.
    • Benaiah said may the LORD make Solomon's throne greater than the throne of his lord King David.
  38. 1:38
    • Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down.
    • They set Solomon on King David's mule.
    • They brought Solomon to Gihon.
  39. 1:39
    • Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent.
    • Zadok anointed Solomon.
    • They blew the ram's horn.
    • All the people said, Long live King Solomon.
  40. 1:40
    • All the people came up after Solomon.
    • The people played on pipes.
    • The people rejoiced with great joy.
    • The earth was split by the sound of them.
  41. 1:41
    • Adonijah and all the guests with him heard it.
    • They had just finished eating.
    • Joab heard the sound of the ram's horn.
    • Joab asked why the noise of the city was in an uproar.
  42. 1:42
    • While Joab was still speaking, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest arrived.
    • Adonijah told Jonathan to come in.
    • Adonijah said Jonathan was a worthy man.
    • Adonijah said Jonathan brought good news.
  43. 1:43
    • Jonathan answered Adonijah.
    • Jonathan said no, on the contrary.
    • Jonathan said their lord King David had made Solomon king.
  44. 1:44
    • Jonathan said the king had sent with Solomon Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites.
    • Jonathan said they had set Solomon on the king's mule.
  45. 1:45
    • Jonathan said Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet had anointed Solomon king at Gihon.
    • Jonathan said they had come up from there rejoicing.
    • Jonathan said the city was in an uproar.
    • Jonathan said that was the noise they had heard.
  46. 1:46
    • Jonathan said Solomon had also taken his seat on the royal throne.
  47. 1:47
    • Jonathan said the king's servants had come to bless their lord King David.
    • Jonathan said they asked that God make the name of Solomon better than David's name.
    • Jonathan said they asked that God make Solomon's throne greater than David's throne.
    • Jonathan said the king bowed himself on the bed.
  48. 1:48
    • Jonathan said the king had also spoken thus.
    • David said, Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel.
    • David said the LORD had that day given one to sit on his throne.
    • David said his own eyes were seeing it.
  49. 1:49
    • All the guests who were with Adonijah were afraid.
    • They rose up.
    • Each man went his own way.
  50. 1:50
    • Adonijah was afraid because of Solomon.
    • Adonijah arose and went.
    • Adonijah took hold of the horns of the altar.
  51. 1:51
    • It was told to Solomon that Adonijah feared King Solomon.
    • It was reported that Adonijah had taken hold of the horns of the altar.
    • It was reported that Adonijah said King Solomon should swear to him that day not to kill his servant with the sword.
  52. 1:52
    • Solomon said that if Adonijah showed himself a worthy man, not a hair of his would fall to the ground.
    • Solomon said that if wickedness was found in him, he would die.
  53. 1:53
    • King Solomon sent word.
    • They brought Adonijah down from the altar.
    • Adonijah came and bowed down to King Solomon.
    • Solomon said to him, Go to your house.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

1:1
A king's physical vigor was closely bound up with his fitness to rule; a report that David can no longer keep warm signals to the ancient reader that his grip on the throne is failing, and that the question of who follows him is now urgent.
1:2
The proposal is a practical remedy of ancient medicine, body heat from a young attendant, and also a test of the king's vigor. The Hebrew word rendered "young virgin" specifies an unmarried girl of marriageable age; the point of her status is that she enters the royal household as the king's own, not merely as a nurse.
1:3
Shunem was a village in the Jezreel Valley in the north of Israel, a long way from Jerusalem; the search covers the whole kingdom, which is part of the point.
1:4
A woman brought into a king's household in this way belonged to the royal harem whether or not the marriage was consummated. That detail matters later: in the next chapter, Adonijah's request to marry Abishag is treated as a bid for the throne itself.
1:5
David had many sons by different wives, and Israel had no fixed law that the eldest inherited the throne, so the succession was genuinely open. Adonijah's mother Haggith is named because a claimant's standing depended partly on his mother's rank. Chariots, horsemen, and a running escort of fifty men were the visible trappings of royalty; parading them was a public announcement that he intended to rule. David's son Absalom had made exactly the same display before his revolt.
1:6
Absalom was an older son of David who mounted an armed rebellion against his father and was killed. Adonijah was the next son born after him; with Absalom and the still older Amnon both dead, Adonijah was now, so far as we know, David's eldest surviving son, which is why the verse mentions his birth order.
1:7
Joab was the commander of David's army and had been for decades; Abiathar was one of the two chief priests. Winning these two gave Adonijah the backing of the army and of the priesthood, the two institutions that could make a claim to the throne stick.
1:8
Zadok was the other chief priest and Nathan the prophet who had confronted David over Bathsheba. Benaiah commanded David's personal bodyguard. "David's elite soldiers" (the King James "mighty men") were the corps of veteran warriors who had been with David since his outlaw years and were loyal to him personally rather than to Joab. Nothing else is known of Shimei and Rei. The list is a roll call of the men who controlled the guard, the shrine, and the palace.
1:9
An animal sacrifice was also a feast: the meat was cooked and eaten by the guests. Slaughtering on this scale and gathering the royal family and the leading men of Judah was in effect a coronation banquet. En-rogel was a spring in the valley just south of Jerusalem, outside the city, near enough to matter, far enough to be out of David's sight and hearing.
1:11
Nathan speaks of Adonijah as already reigning because in Israelite practice the feast, the acclamation, and the backing of the army and priesthood were what made a king; there was no separate legal step still to come.
1:12
Nathan's warning is not exaggerated. When a disputed succession was settled, the new king routinely killed the rival claimant and his supporters to prevent a second challenge. If Adonijah's claim held, Bathsheba and Solomon were dead.
1:13
"Your servant" here translates a word meaning a female servant or slave; it is the polite way a woman referred to herself when addressing a superior, not a statement about her actual position. No earlier passage of the Bible records this oath of David's; the reader is simply told it was made.
1:16
"Did obeisance" means bowed low in formal respect. This is the required approach to a king, even by his own wife, and the text notes it because the scene is being played by the rules of the court rather than of a marriage.
1:20
The throne of Israel had not yet passed from father to son even once: Saul's line had been displaced by David. There was no settled law of succession, which is why a promise from the living king, spoken publicly, was worth more than being the eldest.
1:21
"Die and are buried with your ancestors" is a standard Hebrew way of saying "die a natural death." To be "treated as criminals" means to be executed as traitors, the expected fate of a losing claimant's family.
1:25
"Long live the king" was the formal shout of acclamation by which a new ruler was recognized; hearing it reported means the crowd at the feast has already accepted Adonijah as king.
1:29
"As surely as the LORD lives" was the standard formula for a binding oath, invoking God as witness and, by implication, as the one who would punish a broken promise.
1:31
"May the king live forever" was a conventional court greeting throughout the ancient Near East, roughly equivalent to "long live the king." It is not a wish that he escape death, and it is pointedly said to a man who is visibly dying.
1:33
Riding the king's own mount was itself the announcement: only the man the king had designated could use it, so the sight of Solomon on David's mule settled the question in public. Gihon was Jerusalem's main spring, in the valley on the east side of the city and just below the palace, close in, in full view and hearing of the city, unlike Adonijah's gathering at the more distant En-rogel.
1:34
Kings in Israel were installed by having olive oil poured over the head by a priest or prophet; the ceremony, not a coronation with a crown, was what made a man king. "Anointed" and "messiah" come from this word. The ram's horn was the standard instrument for public signals (alarms, assemblies, and proclamations) and its blast would carry across the city.
1:35
Judah was the big southern part of the land. Israel here means the rest of the tribes.
1:36
"Amen" is a Hebrew word meaning roughly "let it be firm" or "so be it"; it is the formal way of endorsing an oath or a command as binding.
1:38
The Cherethites and Pelethites were David's professional bodyguard, foreign mercenaries (the names probably connect them to Crete and to the Philistines). Because they were outsiders, they had no stake in Israelite factions and were loyal only to the king who paid them, which is exactly why they are the troops used here.
1:39
The "tent of worship" is the tent David had set up in Jerusalem to house the ark, the shrine that served before the temple was built. The oil kept there was consecrated for sacred use, and it was stored in a hollowed animal horn used as a flask.
1:40
"The earth rent with the sound of them" is deliberate exaggeration, like saying the ground shook. The pipes are flutes or reed instruments. The noise is functional as well as celebratory: the whole city has to hear who has been made king.
1:42
Jonathan was the son of Abiathar, the priest backing Adonijah, so he counts as a friendly source. Adonijah's reasoning, that a respected man must be carrying good news, was a common assumption in a world where news arrived only by runner and where the bearer of bad news sometimes paid for it.
1:47
David bows on the bed rather than rising because he is too weak to stand, the gesture of worship is made from where he lies.
1:50
The altar had four projections at its corners, called horns. Grasping them was a recognized claim of sanctuary: a man holding the altar could not be killed there without profaning it, so the appeal bought time to negotiate terms. Israelite law allowed this refuge for accidental killing but explicitly denied it to murderers, so the protection was never absolute.
1:52
"Not one hair of his head will fall" was a common idiom for coming through completely unharmed.
1:53
"Go home" is a dismissal, not a pardon in full. Adonijah is sent to his own house and out of public life, on terms that leave him alive only as long as he stays quiet.

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