Day 81: 1 Kings 1:32–48

All the people followed him, playing flutes and rejoicing with such a great joy that the earth split open from the sound (v. 40).

David purposely called three specific men to escort the new king Solomon to his rightful place of authority. Nathan was the primary prophet of the day. Zadok was the priest, and Benaiah was a mighty warrior. For the nation to be strong, all four areas of authority needed to be present: prophet, priest, warrior, and king. Interestingly, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will ultimately fill every one of those positions. All authority has been given to Christ! (Matt. 28:18). Under one Head, all nations will finally be unified.

David sent his most trustworthy warrior and his army to protect Solomon. They were to put Solomon on King David’s mule and escort him. Customarily, a king rode on a mule to signify his intent to be a servant to the people. The mule was often dressed with a wreath of flowers around its neck or a royal drape over its back.

Solomon surely knew he would one day be king. He knew the time would come, but I wonder if he knew what it would be like. Did a servant girl tell him three VIPs were at the door to speak to him? Or did he hear the bray of the mule? We simply read that Zadok, Nathan, Benaiah, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites went down and put Solomon on King David’s mule.

Picture the scene as Solomon took the ride of his life!

David specifically commanded the men to escort Solomon to Gihon. Two springs provided Jerusalem’s water supply: the En Rogel spring and the Gihon spring. According to 1 Kings 1:9, Adonijah was staging his own coronation at En Rogel.

The Gihon spring was directly east of the city wall. The ancient Hebrew people believed God’s glory and authority would come from the east. The Gihon spring did not provide a steady flow, but gushed “out at irregular intervals, twice a day in the dry season to four or five times in the rainy season. Water issues from a crack sixteen feet long in the rock.”21 Even the name was significant. The name Gihon comes from a Hebrew word that means “a bursting forth.”22 A new king was bursting on the scene to supply the nation of Israel with security and authority.

Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Could this have been the same horn tipped by the hand of Samuel over the head of a young shepherd boy? What other horn would have had a place in the sacred tent?

Solomon is not described like Absalom and Adonijah, handsome and obvious choices for a would-be king. He may not have been the natural choice in the eyes of men. He was not the oldest of the sons of David. But he represented God’s divine mercy. He was the embodiment of second chances. He was the innocence that came from guilt. He was God’s choice, as history would prove.

I find enormous security in the consistency of God. He is always merciful. Christ Jesus would never have become flesh to dwell among us had it not been for man’s scandalous sin. Jesus certainly did not display the image of the king that Israel was expecting, yet He was the embodiment of second chances. He took our guilt on His innocent shoulders and became sin for us so we could become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). Why? Because we were God’s choice.

When David received the news from his royal officials, “the king bowed in worship on his bed and said, ‘Praise be to the Lord’ ” (vv. 47–48). This verse records the last time God used the word “king” in the Book of 1 Kings in reference to His beloved David. God chose to pen this last reference to King David in a sentence eternally linked to two responses:

1. Worship. Too weak to move to the floor, David fell on his face right where he was.

2. Praise. “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has allowed my eyes to see a successor on my throne today” (v. 48).

David’s rule ended just as it officially began. His stiffened body bowed before God on his final day as king with the same abandon he demonstrated when he danced through the streets of Jerusalem.

Was it not he who said, “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name” (Ps. 103:1 kjv). With all that was within him, he once danced. On that last day as king, he bowed to worship.

David’s actions were often contradictory, but one consistency he wove throughout his life and reign—he was a man of worship, a man after God’s own heart.

I’m thankful David enjoyed a brief reprieve from his sickbed. I was not ready to part with him yet. Were you? Deep within the aging king we can still see glimpses of a heart after God’s own. May God deal tenderly with us as we approach his journey’s end.