David in Old Age

Now King David was old, advanced in age; and they covered him with garments, but he could not keep warm.

But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.

Nathan and Bathsheba

Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king, and David our lord does not know it?

Go at once to King David and say to him, ‘Have you not, my lord the king, sworn to your servant, saying, “Solomon your son certainly shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then has Adonijah become king?’

Then King David responded and said, “Summon Bathsheba to me.” And she came into the king’s presence and stood before the king.

Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, and prostrated herself before the king and said, “May my lord King David live forever.”

Then King David said, “Summon to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” And they came into the king’s presence.

Just as the Lord has been with my lord the king, so may He be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David!”

Solomon Anointed King

So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon.

But Jonathan replied to Adonijah, “On the contrary! Our lord King David has made Solomon king!

Moreover, the king’s servants came to bless our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and his throne greater than your throne!’ And the king bowed himself on the bed.

David’s Command to Solomon

As David’s time to die drew near, he commanded his son Solomon, saying,

Death of David

Then David lay down with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David.

Now the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: in Hebron he reigned for seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned for thirty-three years.

Then Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was firmly established.

Now then, as the Lord lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and has made me a house just as He promised, Adonijah certainly shall be put to death today!”

Then to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth to your own field, for you deserve to die; but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before my father David, and because you were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted.”

The Lord will return his blood on his own head, because he struck two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, while my father David did not know about it: Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.

So their blood shall return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever; but for David and his descendants, and his house and his throne, may there be peace from the Lord forever.”

The king also said to Shimei, “You yourself know all the evil that you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore the Lord will return your evil on your own head.

But King Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established before the Lord forever.”

Solomon’s Rule Consolidated

Now Solomon formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem.

Now Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he was sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.

Solomon’s Prayer

Then Solomon said, “You have shown great faithfulness to Your servant David my father, according as he walked before You in truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have reserved for him this great faithfulness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

And now, Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am like a little boy; I do not know how to go out or come in.