1 Kings 1:36–44

Scripture Reading

And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen: the LORD God of my lord the king say so too. As the LORD hath been with my lord the king, even so be he with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David. So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride upon king David's mule, and brought him to Gihon. And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon. And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them.

Amen — The Power Behind the Throne

Benaiah's word in verse 36 is among the most striking in the chapter: Amen: the Lord God of my lord the king say so too. David was still alive. One might have expected someone to say the power behind this throne would be David's continuing influence and counsel. But Benaiah did not say that. He said: Jehovah, the God of Israel — He is the power behind this throne. David is given his right place, Solomon his, Benaiah his, and Jehovah His. It took moral courage to say it, and it could not have been said better. It was not David's presence but Jehovah's presence that would make Solomon's throne what it was to be.

The prayer that Solomon's throne might be greater does not refer to its character — it could not be greater in character than the throne of Jehovah. It refers to extent: the borders of Israel under Solomon approached their full Abrahamic scope more nearly than at any time before. And in the coming millennial reign, Christ will perfectly fulfil those land promises in a way Solomon only typified.

The Anointing — Priest, Prophet, and Oil

Zadok took the horn of oil out of the tabernacle. No one told him to bring it — he knew. Abiathar was absent; Zadok simply acted in the capacity that was his. The oil is the Scripture's recurring figure of the Holy Spirit. So at Solomon's anointing there is the priestly character (Zadok), the prophetic character (Nathan), and the figure of the Spirit (the oil). As Benaiah's word had brought in Jehovah's name, so the anointing brought in the figure of the Spirit. Everything about this coronation is of God's ordering, not of man's arranging.

Contrast with Adonijah: no anointing is recorded for him anywhere. That omission is deliberate and significant. The anointing is the mark of divine appointment. Solomon was anointed; Adonijah was not. When the Spirit descended on the Lord Jesus at the Jordan and abode upon Him — that was His anointing for ministry: the oil mingled with the fine flour at His birth and the oil poured upon the cakes at His anointing, as the meal offering prefigures these two moments.

The Trumpet — Not an Invitation List but a Proclamation

Adonijah used invitations — selective, carefully curated. Solomon's enthronement was announced by a trumpet. A trumpet is not addressed to particular individuals. It is a general proclamation: whoever will hear, let them hear. And the response was: all the people said, God save king Solomon. The earth rent with the sound. Adonijah's feast had ended with every man going his own way. Solomon's enthronement drew all the people up after him. That is the difference between the unity of the flesh and the unity that God gives around His appointed one.

The word up in verse 40 — all the people came up after him — has a moral note. Contrasted with Nathan's word in verse 25 about Adonijah: he has gone down this day. The flesh goes down. What is of God goes up. And the great joy of that day, when the earth rent with the sound of the trumpet, is a figure of a day yet to come, when the Lord Jesus takes His throne in Jerusalem and all the earth shall be filled with His glory.

Jonathan's News — The Anti-Guest List

Jonathan the son of Abiathar arrived at Adonijah's feast as they made an end of eating. He had not been party to the conspiracy — his father had, but not he — and he came apparently in the good of the news himself, not fully understanding how it would land on his hearers. He said: verily, our lord king David hath made Solomon king. And then he recited, name by name, the very people Adonijah had excluded from his feast. Zadok, Nathan, Benaiah, the Cherethites and Pelethites, Solomon — the anti-guest list, read aloud into the ears of the conspirators.

The good news that Jonathan brought — the gospel of the kingdom in figure — was good news according to the will of God, whether those who heard it were in a state to receive it as good or not. Adonijah's guests had been feeding the flesh to satisfaction. And then the message came that the kingdom had gone another way. Like the word in 1 Thessalonians: when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh. Or Belshazzar, drinking wine in the midst of praise to gods of gold and silver, and in the same hour the fingers appeared on the wall.

— Study ends —