1 Kings 1:20

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹¹Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, "Have you not heard that Adonijah son of Haggith has become king, and our lord David does not know it? ¹²Now please, come and let me advise you. Save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. ¹³Go at once to King David and say, 'My lord the king, did you not swear to your maidservant, "Surely your son Solomon will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne"? Why then has Adonijah become king?' ¹⁴Then, while you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words." ¹⁵So Bathsheba went to see the king in his bedroom. Since the king was very old, Abishag the Shunammite was serving him. ¹⁶And Bathsheba bowed down in homage to the king, who asked, "What is your desire?" ¹⁷"My lord," she replied, "you yourself swore to your maidservant by the LORD your God: 'Surely your son Solomon will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne.' ¹⁸But now, behold, Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, did not know it. ¹⁹And he has sacrificed an abundance of oxen, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the other sons of the king, as well as Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army. But he did not invite your servant Solomon. ²⁰And as for you, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are upon you to tell them who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the eyes: 2 Chronicles 20:12, Psalms 25:15, Psalms 123:2, Zechariah 3:9

that thou: At this time the monarchy of Israel was unsettled; no man knew who was to succeed to the crown; and the minds of the people were as unsettled as the succession. It was neither hereditary nor elective: the king, as was anciently the case in most countries, named his successor; but in this instance, God had already assigned the throne to Solomon. 2 Samuel 23:2, 1 Chronicles 22:8-10, 1 Chronicles 28:5, 1 Chronicles 28:6, 1 Chronicles 28:10, 1 Chronicles 29:1

Cross-References

Genesis 1:7
So God made the expanse and separated the waters beneath it from the waters above. And it was so.

Genesis 1:14
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years.

Genesis 1:22
Then God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."

Genesis 1:24
And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, land crawlers, and wild animals according to their kinds." And it was so.

Genesis 1:25
God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that crawls upon the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:30
And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth-everything that has the breath of life in it-I have given every green plant for food." And it was so.

Genesis 2:19
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

Genesis 8:17
Bring out all the living creatures that are with you-birds, livestock, and everything that crawls upon the ground-so that they can spread out over the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon it."

1 Kings 4:33
He spoke of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing in the wall, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

Psalms 148:10
wild animals and all cattle, crawling creatures and flying birds,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And thou, my lord, O king,.... As for thee, or what concerns thee, or is incumbent on thee, will appear from the expectations of the people:

the eyes of all Israel [are] upon thee, that thou shouldest tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him; this she said, to dissipate any fears that might possess his mind on hearing what Adonijah had done, that the people in general had assented to it, and encouraged him to it; whereas the body of the people were waiting to hear what was the will and determination of David: for they not only considered him as having a power to name a successor, as was afterwards done by Rehoboam, but as one that had the mind of God revealed to him who should be his successor, to which they should pay a regard.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Tell them who shall sit on the throne - Side by side with what may be called the natural right of hereditary succession, there existed in the old world, and especially in the East, a right, if not of absolutely designating a successor, yet at any rate of choosing one among several sons. Thus, Cyrus designated Cambyses; and Darius designated Xerxes; and a still more absolute right of nomination was exercised by some of the Roman emperors.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 1:20. That thou shouldest tell - who shall sit on the throne — This was a monarchy neither hereditary nor elective; the king simply named his successor. This obtained less or more, anciently, in most countries.