Poole on 1 Kings 1:5-10: Adonijah's Usurpation of the Throne

Verse 5:[1]  Then (2 Sam. 3:4) Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king (Heb. reign[2]):  and (2 Sam. 15:1) he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

[He was lifted up (thus the Septuagint, Montanus)]  By his ambitious spirit (Menochius).  ‎מִתְנַשֵּׂא,[3] efferebat, he was raising (efferens/raising [Tigurinus, Junius and Tremellius]) himself (Pagnine, similarly the Arabic, Munster, Vatablus).  Lifted up with pride, he was saying, etc. (Syriac).  He was aiming at the Kingdom (Vatablus); he wanted to establish himself in possession of rule (Grotius).

Then, on notice of the desperateness of the king’s disease, and the approach of his death, Adonijah the son of Haggith (see 2 Samuel 3:4) exalted himself; entertained high thoughts and designs.

[Saying, I will reign]  That is to say, It belongs to me to reign, by right of nature:  who am the first, my older brothers being dead, 1 Kings 1:6; 2 Samuel 3:2-4 (Piscator out of Junius).  I want to rule now.  Not just once has it happened, that the sons were unwilling to wait for the death of their father.  We have examples in the two sons of Sennacherib,[4] Artaxerxes the son of Darius, Perseus the son of Philip of Macedon,[5] Ptolemy Euergetes, and many others (Grotius).  Moreover, he said this, either audaciously and frankly (Sanchez); or only to those that were favoring him (Lyra).  He was obtruding himself, without a call to the kingdom.  But holy men were called to be princes, while they were doing other things, like Moses, David, etc. (Martyr).

I will be king; as the right of the kingdom is mine, 1 Kings 1:6, so I will now take possession of it, lest Solomon attempt to deprive me of it.

[And he made for himself]  He had prepared (Junius and Tremellius); he appointed, or disposed (Vatablus).

[Chariots and horsemen]  In imitation of Absalom (Menochius); by whose example he is not deterred (Martyr).  These were the signs of one campaigning for royal power (Sanchez).  It had also been prohibited to kings to multiply these,[6] which he nevertheless does, not yet obtaining the empire (Martyr).

[Who might run before him]  That is, Who, going before him, might bear his arms (Vatablus).  Thus Absalom, 2 Samuel 15:1 (Grotius).

He prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him, as Absalom had done upon the like occasion, 2 Samuel 15:1; such ill use did he make of that example, that he committed the same wickedness which he had done, and yet feared not the same disappointment and destruction which he brought upon himself.

Verse 6:[7]  And his father had not displeased him at any time (Heb. from his days[8]) in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodly man; (2 Sam. 3:3, 4; 1 Chron. 3:2) and his mother bare him after Absalom.

[He did not chasten, etc., ‎וְלֹא־עֲצָבוֹ [9]]  And he did not sadden him (Pagnine, similarly Montanus, Vatablus, Junius and Tremellius, Munster), namely, by chastening (Vatablus).  I would prefer, he had not afflicted with sorrow (Piscator); he had not restrained (Septuagint, similarly the Arabic); he did not rebuke (Syriac, Vatablus, similarly the Arabic).

[At any time (thus the Syriac, similarly the Septuagint, Arabic, Junius and Tremellius), ‎מִיָּמָיו]  From his days (Pagnine, Montanus, Vatablus, Jonathan in Mariana[10]) (or from the days of him [Vatablus]), which is put in the place of in his days (Martyr); that is, as long as he lived (Vatablus).  While he was yet governing the kingdom.  I would prefer, from the days of him, namely, Adonijah (Piscator).  David’s excessive indulgence is taxed (Vatablus, similarly Sanchez, Martyr).  To that immoderate στοργὴν/affection old age had come, which is wont to make men incurious of things and torpid (Grotius).  David was not ignorant of what Adonijah did (for these things were not able to be done without uproar and tumult), neither to what those things had regard, but he did not rebuke him (Sanchez).  Which excessive gentleness was his destruction (Martyr).  David was thinking that these things were prepared by him out of youthful vanity and ostentation; not that he aimed at the kingdom; for, when David sensed that, he resisted his attempts (certain interpreters in Martyr).  There are those that think that he, being old and confined to bed, was ignorant of what things were happening, which is not very probable; or that he decided to dissimulate out of fear of a greater evil (Menochius).

His father had not displeased him at any time:  this is noted as David’s great error, and the occasion of Adonijah’s presumption.  Why hast thou done so? he neither restrained him from, nor reproved him for his miscarriages; which was a great sin against that plain law, Leviticus 19:17, and severely punished in Eli,[11] which David was not ignorant of, except Adonijah’s errors were small, or concealed from David.

[He was very handsome]  This both won him the favor of the people, and charmed the eyes of his father.  Beauty is the match-maker of hearts (Sanchez, similarly Martyr).  Absalom both was handsome, and had done these same things, yet had miserably perished; by which example Adonijah was not at all deterred (Martyr).  ‎וְגַם־ה֤וּא טֽוֹב־תֹּ֙אַר֙ מְאֹ֔ד, and he also was of good form (Junius and Tremellius), like Absalom (Junius).  But, since no mention of Absalom precedes, I think that the גַּם/also does not denote that ἀντίθεσιν/comparison, but is referred to verse 5; that is to say, not only was he making use of a royal escort, but he was also handsome; which was winning him the favor of the people, which is ever and amazingly captivated by beauty (Piscator).

He also:  this particle relates, either, first, To Absalom here following, who also was a goodly man.  Or rather, secondly, To what goes before, to signify that this was a second ground of his confidence, because his great comeliness made him amiable in the people’s eyes, as his father’s indulgence was the first.

[Second in birth after Absalom, ‎וְאֹת֥וֹ יָלְדָ֖ה אַחֲרֵ֥י אַבְשָׁלֽוֹם׃]  And she had given him birth after Absalom (Septuagint, Syriac, Montanus) [similarly nearly all interpreters]:  understanding, his mother (Munster) (Haggith [Jonathan, Pagnine, Junius and Tremellius, Grotius, Glassius[12]]):  after Absalom, that is, born of another mother (Grotius).  See 2 Samuel 3:3, 4 (Piscator).  An Ellipsis of the nominative preceding the verb sometimes occurs (Glassius’ “Grammar” 696).  [Others thus:]  And he had begotten him after Absalom (Tigurinus) [the יָלְדָה [13] appears to refer to David by an Enallage of gender].  He was the second to Absalom, who was dead.  Therefore, to this son the kingdom appears to pertain.  But God give to whom He will (Vatablus); on more than one occasion He set the younger before the elder in birth, like Abel, Isaac, Jacob, etc., whereby God was adumbrating that the infirm and foolish were to be chosen, with the noble, wise, etc., rejected, 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (Martyr).

After Absalom, that is, next after Absalom was born of his mother:  see 2 Samuel 3:3, 4.

Verse 7:[14]  And he conferred with Joab (Heb. his words were with Joab[15]) the son of Zeruiah, and with (2 Sam. 20:25) Abiathar the priest:  and (1 Kings 2:22, 28) they following Adonijah helped him (Heb. helped after Adonijah[16]).

[And there was speech to him with Joab and with Abiathar, etc.,וַיִּהְי֣וּ דְבָרָ֔יו עִ֚ם יוֹאָ֣ב בֶּן־צְרוּיָ֔ה וְעִ֖ם אֶבְיָתָ֣ר הַכֹּהֵ֑ן]  And his words were with Joab, etc. (Septuagint, Montanus).  He had conversations with Joab, etc. (Junius and Tremellius, Syriac), that is, he conspired in common counsel with them (Junius).  His counsels were (or he was communicating his affairs [Tigurinus]) with Joab (Munster); he was committing his affairs, his counsel, and his soldiers to Joab (Arabic).  Joab and Abiathar were favoring him; either, 1.  because they had persuaded themselves that the kingdom was due to him as the firstborn; or, 2.  so that they might oblige him to themselves, and be confirmed in their offices (Menochius).  Joab was dreading, that he would be punished for the murders (of Abner[17] and Amasa[18] [Lyra]); he had perceived well enough, that David had them on his heart (Lyra); Joab was wanting the kingdom to be for his own benefit (Grotius).  The words of Samuel concerning the casting of the posterity of Eli down from the priesthood[19] were disquieting Abiathar; and that Zadok of the family of Eleazar was in favor before David.  With these things in view, David, being an old man, etc., had committed his affairs to his nobles, with Joab and Abiathar excluded.  We see here, that princes, even one well-deserving, are despised by their own, when they are old.  They are scornful of Solomon as tender in age, and born of adultery.  They are wholly intent on this, that they might win the favor of the new king (Martyr).

He conferred with Joab, etc.:  Either because they thought the right of the crown was his; or rather, from secret grudges, because they perceived themselves neglected by David, and possibly by Solomon too; and from carnal policy, that they might secure and advance their own interest, which they saw to be in manifest danger.

[Who were helping the party of Adonijah, ‎וַֽיַּעְזְר֔וּ אַחֲרֵ֖י אֲדֹנִיָּֽה׃]  And they were helping (or their help was [Munster]) after Adonijah (Montanus, Septuagint); who helped, going after Adonijah (Pagnine, Jonathan).  Who helped Adonijah, following him (Piscator, similarly Junius and Tremellius).

Verse 8:[20]  But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and (1 King 4:18) Shimei, and Rei, and (2 Sam. 23:8) the mighty men which belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.

But Zadok, etc.:  His great and famous commanders, and the guards and soldiers under them.

Verse 9:[21]  And Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fat cattle by the stone of Zoheleth, which is by (2 Sam. 17:17) En-rogel (or, the well Rogel[22]), and called all his brethren the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah the king’s servants…

[Therefore, with rams sacrificed, etc.]  Not by himself, but through the ministry of the priests (Menochius).  Thus it was the custom in the inauguration of Kings.  See 1 Samuel 11:14, 15; 1 Chronicles 29:21 (Sanchez).  The kingdom is inaugurated with sacred rites, partly so that he might appear religious; partly so that he might enter the kingdom with a favorable and good omen (Martyr).  וַיִּזְבְּחוּ:  This verb is ambiguous.  The Greeks render it, ἐθυσίασεν, he sacrificed; I would prefer, and he slaughtered, as it is said of the Witch, 1 Samuel 28:24[23] (Piscator).  It was not a sacrifice, but a feast (Malvenda).

[Rams, ‎צֹאן]  It generally signifies sheep; it is here taken collectively, and comprehends sheep and goats, as it is evident from Leviticus 1:10[24] (Piscator).

[And all fat things, ‎וּמְרִיא]  And fat things (Pagnine); and a fatling (Piscator).  The Greeks here translate it ἄρνας/lambs; but in Isaiah 11:6 they render it ταῦρον/bull.[25]  But it appears in general to signify a fat flock animal (Piscator).  Flock animals fattened for eating (Vatablus).  [Junius and Tremellius connect it with the preceding word, oxen, and those fattened.]

Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fat cattle; partly for a sacrifice; and partly for feasts, that he might engage God to be on his side, and draw a multitude of people after him.

[By the stone of Zoheleth, ‎הַזֹּחֶלֶת [26]]  [A great many take it as a proper name; but others appellatively:]  Near the great stone (Syriac, Arabic).  In the moving and dragging of which mighty men were proving their strength (Menochius out of Lyra).  Near the stone of the outlook (Jonathan); near the stone of the descent of waters; for there was the spring of Rogel, etc. (Kimchi[27] in Munster).  The term signifies gushing; because there were the gushings of the spring of Rogel, etc. (Mariana).  This was the stone upon which cloth-fullers were pressing water, falling drop by drop, with clubs out of garments washed in the nearby spring.  The זָחַל signifies to be slow to act, Job 32:6;[28] whence a reptile, or creeping thing, is called a זוֹחֵל from its slow motion;[29] whence also Saturn is called זָחָל/Zachal in Arabic.  In the Talmudists זוֹחֲלִים מַיִם are waters flowing slowly; and מַזְחִילָא, a gutter, upon which the water flowing down from the roof is carried by a gentle incline.  These things in passing concerning the term זוֹחֵל, not sufficiently well-known (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals[30] 1:1:9:59).

[Which was near to the fountain of Rogel, ‎אֲשֶׁר־אֵ֖צֶל עֵ֣ין רֹגֵ֑ל]  By En-Rogel (Vatablus).  Before or by the fountain of Rogel (Pagnine, Junius and Tremellius), concerning which see Joshua 15:7; 18:16; 2 Samuel 17:17 (Malvenda out of Junius).  Beside the fountain of the fuller (Jonathan, Syriac, Arabic).  The fountain was called רֹגֵל/Rogel from רֶגֶל/foot, because garments were washed there by the treading of the feet, as we also mentioned above (Munster).  The place is selected as well-known and highly frequented (Martyr), and near to Jerusalem, as it is evident from 2 Samuel 17:17 (Sanchez).

By En-rogel, or, the fountain of Rogel, or, of the fuller; a place nigh to Jerusalem:  see Joshua 15:7; 18:16; 2 Samuel 17:17.

[He called his brethren]  To the feast, which was always following sacrifices of this sort (Menochius).

Called all his brethren the king’s sons; either because he knew they envied and were discontented with Solomon, and therefore would favour him; or that he might engage them so to do.

[And all the men of Judah]  With those named in the following verse excepted (Piscator).

All the men of Judah the king’s servants; except these here excepted, verse 10.

Verse 10:[31]  But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not.

[Nathan and Benaiah he called not]  Partly out of contempt, and partly because he believed them to be opposite to his plans, as the friends of Bath-sheba (Grotius).  He knew that they hung upon the will of the King, and also upon the oracle concerning the succession of Solomon[32] (Martyr).

But Nathan the prophet, etc.:  Because he knew they favoured Solomon his competitor.

[And Solomon]  As his rival (Lapide, Martyr).

[1] Hebrew:  ‎וַאֲדֹנִיָּ֧ה בֶן־חַגִּ֛ית מִתְנַשֵּׂ֥א לֵאמֹ֖ר אֲנִ֣י אֶמְלֹ֑ךְ וַיַּ֣עַשׂ ל֗וֹ רֶ֚כֶב וּפָ֣רָשִׁ֔ים וַחֲמִשִּׁ֥ים אִ֖ישׁ רָצִ֥ים לְפָנָֽיו׃

[2] Hebrew:  ‎אֶמְלֹךְ.

[3] נָשָׂא, to lift up.  The Hithpael conjugation frequently conveys a reflexive sense.

[4] 2 Kings 19:37; 2 Chronicles 32:21; Isaiah 37:38.

[5] Philip V of Macedon ruled from 221 to 179 BC.  He was succeeded by his son Perseus, who ruled from 179 to 168 BC.  Perseus, the son of a concubine, feared that the throne might fall to his younger, but legitimate, brother Demetrius, so he forged a letter implicating Demetrius in a plot to overthrow Philip V, leading to the execution of Demetrius.  The execution led to a decline in Philip’s health, hastening his death.

[6] Deuteronomy 17:16.

[7] Hebrew: ‎וְלֹֽא־עֲצָב֙וֹ אָבִ֤יו מִיָּמָיו֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר מַדּ֖וּעַ כָּ֣כָה עָשִׂ֑יתָ וְגַם־ה֤וּא טֽוֹב־תֹּ֙אַר֙ מְאֹ֔ד וְאֹת֥וֹ יָלְדָ֖ה אַחֲרֵ֥י אַבְשָׁלֽוֹם׃

[8] Hebrew:  ‎מִיָּמָיו.

[9] עָצַב signifies to pain or grieve.

[10] John Mariana (c. 1536-1624) was a Spanish Jesuit priest and scholar.  While teaching theology in Rome, Robert Bellarmine was among his pupils.  He wrote Scholia in Vetus et Novum Testamentum, but his magnum opus was the thirty-book history of Spain, Historiæ de Rebus Hispaniæ.

[11] See 1 Samuel 2:12-3:18.

[12] Solomon Glassius (1593-1656) was a German Lutheran divine and critic.  He was Professor of Divinity at the University of Jena.  His Philologia Sacra was a groundbreaking work in Biblical Hebrew.

[13] A feminine verb.

[14] Hebrew:  ‎וַיִּהְי֣וּ דְבָרָ֔יו עִ֚ם יוֹאָ֣ב בֶּן־צְרוּיָ֔ה וְעִ֖ם אֶבְיָתָ֣ר הַכֹּהֵ֑ן וַֽיַּעְזְר֔וּ אַחֲרֵ֖י אֲדֹנִיָּֽה׃

[15] Hebrew:  ‎וַיִּהְי֣וּ דְבָרָ֔יו עִ֚ם יוֹאָ֣ב.

[16] Hebrew:  ‎וַֽיַּעְזְר֔וּ אַחֲרֵ֖י אֲדֹנִיָּֽה׃.

[17] See 2 Samuel 3.

[18] See 2 Samuel 20:1-13.

[19] 1 Samuel 3:10-18; see also 1 Samuel 2:27-36.

[20] Hebrew:  ‎וְצָד֣וֹק הַ֠כֹּהֵן וּבְנָיָ֙הוּ בֶן־יְהוֹיָדָ֜ע וְנָתָ֤ן הַנָּבִיא֙ וְשִׁמְעִ֣י וְרֵעִ֔י וְהַגִּבּוֹרִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר לְדָוִ֑ד לֹ֥א הָי֖וּ עִם־אֲדֹנִיָּֽהוּ׃

[21] Hebrew: ‎ויִּזְבַּ֣ח אֲדֹנִיָּ֗הוּ צֹ֤אן וּבָקָר֙ וּמְרִ֔יא עִ֚ם אֶ֣בֶן הַזֹּחֶ֔לֶת אֲשֶׁר־אֵ֖צֶל עֵ֣ין רֹגֵ֑ל וַיִּקְרָ֗א אֶת־כָּל־אֶחָיו֙ בְּנֵ֣י הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ וּלְכָל־אַנְשֵׁ֥י יְהוּדָ֖ה עַבְדֵ֥י הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃

[22] Hebrew:  ‎עֵ֣ין רֹגֵ֑ל.

[23] 1 Samuel 28:24:  “And the woman had a fat calf in the house; and she hasted, and killed it (‎וַתִּזְבָּחֵהוּ), and took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread thereof…”

[24] Leviticus 1:10:  “And if his offering be of the flocks (‎מִן־הַצֹּאן), namely, of the sheep, or of the goats (‎מִן־הַכְּשָׂבִ֛ים א֥וֹ מִן־הָעִזִּ֖ים), for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish.”

[25] Isaiah 11:6:  “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf (‎וּמְרִיא; καὶ μοσχάριον καὶ ταῦρος, and the calf and the bull, in the Septuagint) and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”

[26] זָחַל signifies to creep, or to shrink back.

[27] David Kimchi (c. 1160-1235) was a famous Spanish Rabbi.  He wrote a commentary on the entire Old Testament and a Hebrew grammar, as a result of which he has long been respected for his profound scholarship.

[28] Job 32:6:  “And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid (‎זָחַלְתִּי, I was slow to act), and durst not shew you mine opinion.”

[29] Deuteronomy 32:24:  “They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction:  I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust (‎זֹחֲלֵ֥י עָפָֽר׃).”  Micah 7:17:  “They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth (‎כְּזֹחֲלֵ֣י אֶ֔רֶץ):  they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee.”

[30] Samuel Bochart (1599-1667) was a French Protestant pastor and scholar with a wide variety of interests, including philology, theology, geography, and zoology.  Indeed his works on Biblical geography (Geographia Sacra) and zoology (Hierozoicon, sive Bipertitum Opus de Animalibus Scripturæ) became standard reference works for generations.  He was on familiar terms with many of the greatest men of his age.

[31] Hebrew:  ‎וְֽאֶת־נָתָן֩ הַנָּבִ֙יא וּבְנָיָ֜הוּ וְאֶת־הַגִּבּוֹרִ֛ים וְאֶת־שְׁלֹמֹ֥ה אָחִ֖יו לֹ֥א קָרָֽא׃

[32] See 2 Samuel 7:13; 12:24, 25; 1 Chronicles 22:9, 10; 23:1; 28; 29.