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1 King Solomon Quotes

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Solomon, the New Man: Dissecting Solomon’s Accession to the Throne In 1 Kings 1 David’s hold on the kingship is weaker than ever. Marked by his affair with Bathsheba, Nathan’s parable, and the inevitable effects of aging, the king is now unfit to rule the land he once worked so hard for. However, despite being bedridden, it is implied that David still has not thought about which one of his sons he would like to be the new heir. Naturally, Adonijah, the eldest son, assumes he will take the throne and begins to campaign for kingship without David’s knowledge. One might think these events create a faultless equation-- for who else could naturally assume the throne besides Adonijah, especially during a time when the king cannot leave his bed? …show more content…

Though, the likeliness of this promise seems low, as letting Solomon, one of his younger sons, succeed him would be going against the normal order of the court. Regardless, the circumstance in which this promise is revealed to David, as well as the reader, is peculiar enough to warrant doubt. The prophet Nathan, who Baden notes “only appears three times” ( Baden 234) in the biblical text, instructs Bathsheba to remind David of this promise (1 Kings 1:11), telling her that confronting David will “save…[her] life… and the life of…[her] son Solomon” (1 Kings 1:12)-- introducing the notion that somehow Adonijah’s kingship would be a threat to their livelihood, though this is no evidence for this, especially considering Solomon is young enough that he bears no threat to obtaining Adonijah’s crown. Because of the lack of evidence in the alleged promise, it is possible that Nathan and Bathsheba wanted to take advantage of the king’s declining mental state in order to make Solomon king. For instance, Solomon’s kingship would benefit Bathsheba, as it would give her power after David essentially destroyed her relationship with her husband out of lust. Regardless of the reason, the aftermath of Solomon’s crowning is reason enough to doubt the historicity of 1 Kings 1, as it is noted that “all of the people went up after him [Solomon], playing pipes and rejoicing greatly…” (1 Kings 1:40). However, it seems unlikely that Solomon, a younger son of the king, could amass such a large following, when the natural successor Adonijah had to use “chariots and horses” (1 Kings 1:6) in order to prove his

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