David Makes Solomon King

After this prophecy had been delivered, the king ordered the foreigners in the land to be counted, and they were found to number one hundred and eighty thousand. Of these he appointed eighty thousand to be stonecutters and the rest of the multitude to carry the stones, and over the workmen he set three thousand five hundred. He also prepared a great quantity of iron and bronze for the work, and many cedar trees of enormous size, which the Tyrians and Sidonians sent him, for he had sent to them for a supply of that timber. He told his friends that he was preparing these things now so that he could leave the materials ready to his son, who was to reign after him, for the building of the temple. Then his son would not have to go looking for them when he was very young and, because of his age, inexperienced in such matters, but would have them lying ready to hand, and so could finish the work the more readily. [a]

So David called his son Solomon and charged him, once he had received the kingdom, to build a temple to God. He said, “I wanted to build God a temple myself, but he forbade me, because I was defiled with blood and wars. But he has foretold that Solomon, my youngest son, would build him a temple and would be called by that name. He has promised to take the same care of him as a father takes of his son, and to make the country of the Hebrews happy under him, not only in other ways but by giving it peace and freedom from wars and from strife at home, which are the greatest of all blessings.” Then he went on, “Since, then, you were appointed king by God himself before you were born, try to make yourself worthy of his providence, in other things and especially in being devout, righteous and courageous. Keep his commandments and his laws, which he has given us through Moses, and do not allow others to break them. Be zealous, too, to dedicate to God a temple, which he has chosen to have built in your reign. Do not be frightened by the size of the work or set about it timidly, for I will make everything ready before I die. Take note that there are already about 375 tons of gold and about 3,750 tons of silver collected together. I have also gathered bronze and iron beyond counting, and an immense quantity of timber and stone. Besides this, you have many tens of thousands of stonecutters and carpenters; and if you need anything more, add something of your own. So be the best of men, with God as your protector.” David also urged the rulers of the people to help his son in this building and to attend to the service of God once they were free of all their misfortunes; for by this means they would enjoy, in place of those misfortunes, peace and a happy settled life, the blessings with which God rewards devout and righteous men. He also gave orders that once the temple was built they should put the ark in it, together with the holy vessels. And he assured them that they ought to have had a temple long ago, if their fathers had not neglected God’s command; for God had charged them, once they had taken possession of this land, to build him a temple. This is how David spoke to the leaders and to his son. [b]

David was now old, and with the length of years his body had grown cold and numb, so that he could get no warmth even by covering himself with many clothes. The physicians met and agreed on this advice: that a beautiful virgin, chosen out of the whole country, should sleep at the king’s side, and that this girl would pass her warmth to him and be a remedy for his numbness. In the city one woman was found who surpassed all other women in beauty; her name was Abishag. She slept with the king but did no more than give him warmth, for he was so old that he could not know her as a husband knows his wife. But of this woman we will speak more presently. [d]

Now David’s fourth son was a handsome, tall young man, born to him by his wife Haggith. His name was Adonijah, and in his disposition he was like Absalom. He exalted himself in the hope of being king, and told his friends that he ought to take the government on himself. He also prepared many chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him. When his father saw this, he did not rebuke him or hold him back from his purpose, nor did he go so far as to ask why he was doing it. Adonijah had as his supporters Joab the commander of the army and Abiathar the high priest; the only men who opposed him were Zadok the high priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the captain of the guards, and Shimei, David’s friend, with all the other mightiest men. Adonijah had prepared a supper outside the city, near the spring in the king’s park, and had invited all his brothers except Solomon. He had taken with him Joab the commander of the army, Abiathar, and the rulers of the tribe of Judah; but he had not invited to this feast Zadok the high priest, or Nathan the prophet, or Benaiah the captain of the guards, or any of the opposite party. Nathan the prophet told Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, that Adonijah wanted to be king. He advised her to save herself and her son Solomon, in case Adonijah had already taken power, and to ask the king about it. He said that while she was speaking with the king, he himself, the prophet, would come in and confirm what she said. Bathsheba agreed with Nathan. She went in to the king and bowed down before him, and when she had asked leave to speak, she told him everything as Nathan had suggested. She related what a supper Adonijah had made and whom he had invited: Abiathar the high priest and Joab the general, and David’s sons, except Solomon and his close friends. She also said that all the people had their eyes on him, to learn whom he would choose as their king. And she asked him to consider how, after his death, Adonijah, if he were king, would kill her and her son Solomon. [e]

While Bathsheba was speaking, the keeper of the king’s chambers told him that Nathan wished to see him. The king ordered him to be admitted, and he came in and asked him whether he had appointed Adonijah king and handed the government over to him or not. For Adonijah had made a splendid supper and invited all his sons except Solomon, and Joab the commander of his army as well, and they were feasting with applause and many joyful sounds of instruments, and wishing that his kingdom might last forever. “But he has not invited me, nor Zadok the high priest, nor Benaiah the captain of the guards. It is only right that everyone should know whether this has been done with your approval or not.” When Nathan had said this, the king ordered Bathsheba to be called to him, for she had gone out of the room when the prophet came in. When Bathsheba had come, David said, “I swear to you by the supreme God that your son Solomon will certainly be king, as I swore before, and that he will sit on my throne, and this very day.” So Bathsheba bowed down before him and wished him a long life. The king sent for Zadok the high priest and Benaiah the captain of the guards, and when they came he ordered them to take with them Nathan the prophet and all the armed men about the palace, to set his son Solomon on the king’s mule, to bring him out of the city to the spring called Gihon, to anoint him there with the holy oil, and to make him king. This he charged Zadok the high priest and Nathan the prophet to do. He commanded them to follow Solomon through the middle of the city, to sound the trumpets, and to wish aloud that Solomon the king might sit on the royal throne forever, so that all the people would know he had been appointed king by his father. He also gave Solomon a charge concerning his rule: to govern the whole nation of the Hebrews, and the tribe of Judah in particular, devoutly and righteously. When Benaiah had prayed to God to be gracious to Solomon, they set Solomon on the mule without any delay, brought him out of the city to the spring, anointed him with oil, and brought him back into the city with acclamations and wishes that his reign might last a long time. When they had brought him into the king’s house, they set him on the throne. At this all the people gave themselves to merrymaking and celebrated a festival, dancing and delighting themselves with pipes, until both the earth and the air echoed with the multitude of the instruments. [g]

When Adonijah and his guests heard this noise, they were thrown into confusion, and Joab the commander of the army said he did not like these echoes and the sound of these trumpets. When supper was set before them, nobody tasted it; they were all deep in thought over what the matter could be. Then Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the high priest, came running to them. Adonijah welcomed the young man gladly and called him a bringer of good news; but he told them the whole business about Solomon and King David’s decision. At this Adonijah and all the guests rose hastily from the feast, and everyone fled to his own home. Adonijah, afraid of the king for what he had done, became a suppliant of God and took hold of the horns of the altar, which projected from it. Solomon was told that he had done this, and that he wanted assurances from him that he would not remember the wrong done to him or inflict any severe punishment for it. Solomon answered very mildly and prudently that he forgave him this offense, but added that if he were found attempting any new plot, he would be the author of his own punishment. So he sent and had him raised up from the place of his supplication. When Adonijah had come to the king and bowed down before him, the king told him to go away to his own house without fear of any harm, and urged him to show himself a worthy man, since that would be to his own advantage.

But David, wishing to establish his son as king over all the people, called their rulers together to Jerusalem, with the priests and the Levites. He first counted the Levites and found them to be thirty-eight thousand, from thirty years old to fifty. Of these he appointed twenty-four thousand to take charge of the building of the temple; out of the same number, six thousand to be judges of the people and scribes; four thousand as gatekeepers of the house of God; and as many as singers, to sing to the instruments David had prepared, as we have said already. He also divided them into courses. Separating the priests from them, he found twenty-four courses of priests, sixteen of the house of Eleazar and eight of the house of Ithamar; and he ordained that each course should serve God for eight days, from sabbath to sabbath. The courses were distributed by lot in the presence of David, of Zadok and Abiathar the high priests, and of all the rulers. The course that came up first was written down as the first, then the second, and so on to the twenty-fourth; and this division has remained to this day. He also made twenty-four divisions of the tribe of Levi, and when they cast lots, these came up in the same way for their courses of eight days. He honored the descendants of Moses as well, making them keepers of the treasures of God and of the gifts the kings dedicated. And he ordained that the whole tribe of Levi, as well as the priests, should serve God night and day, as Moses had commanded them. [i]

After this he divided the whole army into twelve parts, with their leaders, captains of hundreds and commanders. Each part had twenty-four thousand men, who were ordered to attend on Solomon thirty days at a time, from the first day to the last, with their captains of thousands and captains of hundreds. Over each part he set rulers whom he knew to be good and righteous men. He set others in charge of the treasures, the villages, the fields and the livestock, whose names I do not think it necessary to mention. When David had arranged all these officers in the way described, he called together the rulers of the Hebrews, the heads of their tribes, the officers over the various divisions, and those appointed over every work and every possession. Standing on a high platform, he spoke to the multitude as follows: “My brothers and my people, I want you to know that I intended to build a house for God, and prepared a large quantity of gold and about 3,750 tons of silver. But God forbade me through the prophet Nathan, because of the wars I fought on your account, and because my right hand was defiled with the slaughter of our enemies; and he commanded that my son, who was to succeed me in the kingdom, should build him a temple. Now you know that of the twelve sons of our forefather Jacob, Judah was appointed to be king, and that I was preferred before my six brothers and received the government from God, and that none of them resented it. So I too want my sons not to quarrel with one another now that Solomon has received the kingdom, but to accept him gladly as their lord, knowing that God has chosen him. For it is no hardship to obey even a foreigner as ruler, if that is God’s will; and it is right to rejoice when a brother has obtained that honor, since the rest share in it with him. And I pray that the promises of God may be fulfilled, and that the happiness he has promised to give King Solomon over the whole country may continue there for all time to come. These promises, my son, will stand firm and come to a happy end if you show yourself a devout and righteous man and keep the laws of your country; but if not, expect adversity for your disobedience to them.” [j]

When the king had said this, he stopped. Then, in the sight of them all, he gave Solomon the description and pattern of the building of the temple: the foundations and the chambers, lower and upper, how many they were to be, and how large in height and breadth. He also fixed the weight of the gold and silver vessels. Besides this, he earnestly urged Solomon to work at it with the utmost eagerness, and he urged the rulers, and the tribe of Levi in particular, to help Solomon, both because of his youth and because God had chosen him to take charge of building the temple and of governing the kingdom. He declared to them that the work would be easy and not very laborious for them, because he had prepared for it great weights of gold and still more of silver, with timber, a great many carpenters and stonecutters, a large quantity of emeralds, and all kinds of precious stones. And he said that even now, as the first fruits of his own service, he would give about 112½ tons more of pure gold for the most holy place and for the chariot of God, the cherubim, which were to stand over the ark and cover it. When David had finished speaking, great eagerness appeared among the rulers, the priests and the Levites, who now contributed and made great and splendid promises of a future contribution. They undertook to bring about 187½ tons of gold and ten thousand staters, about 375 tons of silver, and iron by many thousands of tons; and anyone who had a precious stone brought it and gave it to be put among the treasures. These were in the care of Jehiel, one of the descendants of Moses. [k]

At this all the people rejoiced, and David above all, when he saw the zeal and eager ambition of the rulers, the priests and all the rest. He began to bless God with a loud voice, calling him the Father and Source of the universe, the Maker of things human and divine, with which he had adorned David, and the protector and guardian of the Hebrew nation, of its happiness, and of the kingdom he had given him. Besides this, he prayed for happiness for all the people, and for Solomon his son a sound and righteous mind, strengthened in every kind of virtue. Then he commanded the multitude to bless God, and they all fell down on the ground and worshiped him. They also gave thanks to David for all the blessings they had received ever since he had taken the kingdom. On the next day they presented sacrifices to God, a thousand bulls, as many rams and a thousand lambs, which they offered as burnt offerings. They also offered peace offerings and slaughtered many tens of thousands of sacrifices; and the king feasted all day together with all the people. They anointed Solomon a second time with the oil and appointed him king, and Zadok high priest of the whole multitude. And when they had brought Solomon to the royal palace and set him on his father’s throne, they obeyed him from that day on. [o]