The Way
Anointed at the Gihon Spring
A son who rode down on David's mule
Story
David was old. Even piled with blankets he could not keep warm, and Abishag the Shunammite cared for him at his side. Meanwhile Prince Adonijah, born after Absalom, put himself forward, saying, “I will be king.” Adonijah got himself chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run ahead of him, and Joab and the priest Abiathar followed him. A feast was held beside the spring of En-rogel, but Nathan, Benaiah and Solomon were not invited.
The prophet Nathan went to Solomon's mother Bathsheba and said, “Adonijah has become king, and our lord David doesn't know it.” Bathsheba went into the king's room, bowed down and said, “Did you not swear that my son Solomon would succeed you?” Nathan came in too and told him the same thing. The old king spoke: “As surely as the Lord lives, who has rescued me from every trouble, today I will do just as I swore.”
Mounted on David's mule, Solomon went down to the Gihon Spring. The priest Zadok took the horn of oil from the tabernacle and poured it on Solomon's head. The trumpet sounded and the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!” The sound of the pipes and the shouting was enough to split the ground, and Adonijah's guests scattered in fear. David bowed in worship on his bed and said, “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who has given someone to sit on my throne today and let my own eyes see it.”
Walk this scene on the map →Words of God and David
As surely as the Lord lives, who has rescued me from every trouble: today I will do exactly what I swore to you, that your son Solomon would be king after me.
Praise the Lord, the God of Israel. Today he has given someone to sit on my throne, and has let my own eyes see it.
May my lord King David live forever!
Amen. As the Lord has been with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne even greater than the throne of King David.
The sayings are fresh renderings of the original meaning in today's language. Text: 1 Kgs 1:1–53
Background
The Gihon Spring is Jerusalem's main spring, rising on the slope of the Kidron Valley east of the City of David. En-rogel, where Adonijah held his feast, lay a little to the south, close enough that the shouting at Gihon could be heard there.
Pause and Reflect
Of the promises I have long put off, which one should I keep today?