David's Last Days

"Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat." His servants search for "a young virgin" and find Abishag the Shunammite, who serves him; "but the king knew her not."

"Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king." He has chariots and fifty runners; "his father had not displeased him at any time." Joab and Abiathar support him; Zadok, Benaiah, Nathan and David's mighty men do not. He sacrifices at the stone of Zoheleth by En-rogel and invites all the king's sons except Solomon.

Nathan tells Bathsheba: "Hast thou not heard that Adonijah… doth reign, and David our lord knoweth it not?" She goes to the king: "My lord, thou swarest by the LORD thy God unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me." Nathan confirms. David: "Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me." Zadok and Nathan anoint Solomon at Gihon; the people shout, "God save king Solomon," "so that the earth rent with the sound of them." Adonijah's guests flee; he takes hold of the horns of the altar. "If he will shew himself a worthy man, there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth."

Abishag

Abishag is chosen for her youth and beauty to serve an old king. Her position is one of vulnerability, not romance. She will become the object of a dangerous request in chapter 2. A traditional link with the "Shulamite" of Song of Songs 6:13 is a debated wordplay, not established.

Bathsheba and Nathan

Bathsheba, once taken by the king, now speaks for her son and secures the throne. The promise she cites is not recorded earlier in Samuel; readers debate whether David made it or was persuaded he had.

Gihon and En-rogel

Adonijah feasts at En-rogel, a spring south of the City of David (often placed at Bir Ayyub); Solomon is anointed at the Gihon, Jerusalem's main spring, close enough for Adonijah's guests to hear the shouting.