Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
For the aged and cold David a young wife is sought. Then, at verse 5, Adonijah seeks and seizes the kingdom, aided by Abiathar the high priest and Joab the commander of the soldiers. But David, at the prayers of Bathsheba, at verse 30, orders Solomon to be anointed and crowned king through Zadok the high priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the commander. Therefore Adonijah flees to the altar; but Solomon sends him home.
Vulgate Text: 3 Kings 1:1-53
1. Now King David had grown old, and was advanced in years; and when he was covered with clothes, he could not get warm. 2. His servants therefore said to him: Let us find for our lord the king a young virgin, and let her stand before the king, and cherish him, and sleep in his bosom, and warm our lord the king. 3. So they sought a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. 4. Now the young woman was exceedingly beautiful, and she slept with the king and ministered to him; but the king did not know her. 5. Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying: I will be king. And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. 6. And his father had never rebuked him at any time, saying: Why have you done this? He was also very handsome, second born after Absalom. 7. And he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest, who supported the party of Adonijah. 8. But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei and Rei, and the mighty men of David's army, were not with Adonijah. 9. And Adonijah sacrificed rams and calves and all manner of fatlings, beside the Stone of Zoheleth, which was near the Spring of Rogel, and invited all his brothers the king's sons, and all the men of Judah the king's servants. 10. But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he did not invite. 11. Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon: Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king, and our lord David does not know it? 12. Come therefore now, take counsel from me, and save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. 13. Go and enter to King David, and say to him: Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your handmaid, saying: Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne? Why then does Adonijah reign? 14. And while you are still speaking there with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words. 15. So Bathsheba went to the king in his chamber; now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was ministering to him. 16. And Bathsheba bowed and did obeisance to the king. And the king said: What do you wish? 17. She answered and said: My lord, you swore by the Lord your God to your handmaid: Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne. 18. And now, behold, Adonijah reigns, and you, my lord the king, do not know it. 19. He has sacrificed oxen and fatlings and many rams, and has invited all the king's sons, and also Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army; but Solomon your servant he has not invited. 20. Nevertheless, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are upon you, that you should tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21. And when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders. 22. And while she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came. 23. And they told the king, saying: Here is Nathan the prophet. And when he had come into the king's presence, he bowed before him with his face to the ground, 24. and Nathan said: My lord the king, have you said: Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? 25. For he has gone down today and has sacrificed oxen, and fatlings, and many rams, and has invited all the king's sons, and the commanders of the army, and also Abiathar the priest; and they are eating and drinking before him, and saying:
Long live King Adonijah! 26. But me your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Solomon your servant, he did not invite. 27. Has this thing been done by my lord the king, and you have not told your servant who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him? 28. Then King David answered and said: Call Bathsheba to me. And when she had come into the king's presence and stood before him, 29. the king swore and said: As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my soul from every distress, 30. even as I swore to you by the Lord God of Israel, saying: Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my place, so will I do this day. 31. Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did obeisance to the king, and said: May my lord David live forever! 32. And King David said: Call to me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And when they came before the king, 33. he said to them: Take with you the servants of your lord, and set Solomon my son upon my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. 34. And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel; and blow the trumpet and say: Long live King Solomon! 35. Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, and he shall reign in my place; and I will appoint him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah. 36. And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said: Amen! So may the Lord God of my lord the king say. 37. 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. 38. So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and set Solomon upon King David's mule, and brought him to Gihon. 39. And Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tabernacle and anointed Solomon; and they blew the trumpet, and all the people said: Long live King Solomon! 40. And all the people came up after him, and the people played on flutes and rejoiced with great joy, and the earth shook with their clamor. 41. Now Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it, and the feast was already ended; and when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said: What does this uproar in the city mean? 42. While he was still speaking, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came; and Adonijah said: Come in, for you are a worthy man and bring good news. 43. But Jonathan answered Adonijah: No! For our lord King David has made Solomon king, 44. and has sent with him Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and they have set him on the king's mule. 45. And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon, and they have come up from there rejoicing, and the city resounded; this is the noise that you have heard. 46. And Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom. 47. And the king's servants came to bless our lord King David, saying: May God make the name of Solomon greater than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne. And the king bowed on the bed; 48. and he said: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne this day, while my own eyes see it. 49. So all the guests who were with Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and each went his way. 50. Now Adonijah, fearing Solomon, arose and went and took hold of the horns of the altar. 51. And it was told Solomon, saying: Indeed Adonijah fears King Solomon; for he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying: Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword. 52. Then Solomon said: If he proves himself a worthy man, not one hair of his shall fall to the earth; but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die. 53. So King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and bowed to King Solomon; and Solomon said to him: Go to your house.
Verse 1: King David Had Grown Old
1. NOW KING DAVID HAD GROWN OLD. — He was 70 years old, which even then was the common period and limit of human life, as he himself says in Psalm 89:10: "The days of our years in themselves are seventy years;" which is still the limit of man's life: therefore from the age of David until now (which is a span of 2,600 years) the age and life of men has scarcely diminished.
Verse 2: Covered with Clothes, He Could Not Get Warm
2. AND WHEN HE WAS COVERED WITH CLOTHES HE COULD NOT GET WARM. — The Rabbis fabricate the story that this punishment was inflicted by God on David because he had secretly cut the garment of Saul his king who was pursuing him, in the cave (1 Samuel 24). Others assign as the cause of the coldness that he was the last born from aged and cold parents. But Scripture here gives as the cause his advanced age: "He was," it says, "advanced in years," and he had spent those years in continual hardships, wars, and labors, and had exhausted his strength. Abulensis adds that he was afflicted with illness.
Verse 3: They Sought a Beautiful Young Woman
3. SO THEY SOUGHT A YOUNG WOMAN. — The natural medical cause of this history is given by Galen (book 7) and Francisco Valles, physician of Philip II, King of Spain. The moral cause is assigned by St. Jerome; the tropological cause by St. Prosper. Listen to Valles, Sacred Philosophy chapter 29. They advised David, he says, to take a young woman rather than wine or fur garments, because that human warmth is most similar in substance to the natural warmth of a person, and does not exceed its degree. Hence Galen, book 7 of the Method, where he treats the weakness of a cold and dry stomach, says: "Of those things which are applied externally, let a young woman of good constitution lie beside him, so that her abdomen always touches his;" which, as Valles says, was done at that age of David when he could no longer know a virgin: otherwise the union and marital intercourse would have harmed him much more than the approach of a young woman would have helped. Thus Rudolph of Habsburg, the first Emperor of the Austrian family, was accustomed, says Serarius from Cuspinian, to chastely kiss the daughters of nobles and princes, even their wives, in their husbands' presence, because, consumed by hectic fever and old age, he said he drew sweet-smelling breath from their mouths.
This therefore is the literal and common exposition of Abulensis, Dionysius, Lyranus, Serarius, Salianus, Sanchez, etc.
St. Jerome gives the moral cause, epistle 2 to Nepotian: "Does it not seem to you," he says, "if you follow the letter that kills, to be either a fiction from a mime or the buffoonery of Atellan farces? A cold old man is wrapped in garments, and grows warm only in the embrace of a young woman. Bathsheba was still alive, Abigail survived, and the rest of his wives and concubines whom Scripture mentions; all are rejected as though cold, and the aged man grows warm only in the embrace of one. Abraham was much older than David, and yet while Sarah lived he did not seek another wife; Isaac had double David's years, and with Rebecca, now old, he never grew cold."
Note here that St. Jerome, along with Angelomus and others, downplays here and almost overturns the literal sense, which absolutely must be established as the foundation: therefore by these words they only mean that the literal sense as less useful should be passed over here in passing, and the moral sense, which is the principal one, should be adhered to, which St. Jerome assigns at the same place as follows: "Who then is this Shunammite, wife and virgin, so ardent that she warmed the cold, so holy that she did not provoke the warm to lust? Let Solomon the wisest expound his father's delights, and the peaceful one narrate the embraces of the warrior. Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding. Do not forget and do not turn away from the words of my mouth, and do not abandon her, and she will take hold of you; love her, and she will preserve you. The beginning of wisdom: acquire wisdom, and with all your possessions acquire understanding; surround her, and she will exalt you; honor her, and she will embrace you, so as to give to your head a crown of graces. A crown of delights will also protect you; all the virtues of the body also are changed in the elderly, and with wisdom alone increasing, all else decreases."
He proves the same from the etymology of the name Abishag and Shunammite, when after more he adds: "But the mystery of the name Abishag itself indicates the greater wisdom of the elderly; for it is interpreted 'my father is abundant,' or 'the roaring of my father': the word 'abundant' is ambiguous, but in the present place it means virtue, because wisdom is more ample and overflowing in the elderly. But in another place 'abundant' is used as if meaning unnecessary. But Abishag, that is 'roaring,' is properly so named; because it resounds like the waves of the sea, and, so to speak, a roar is heard coming from the deep. From which it is shown that the most abundant thunder of the divine word, beyond human voice, dwells in the elderly. Furthermore, Shunammite in our language means 'scarlet,' to signify that wisdom is warm and fervent with divine reading; which although it indicates the Sacrament of the Lord's blood, nevertheless also shows the fervor of wisdom:" whence he concludes with a wish: "Let wisdom embrace me now; and let our Abishag, who never grows old, rest in my bosom. She is undefiled, and of perpetual virginity, and like Mary, though she gives birth daily and is always in labor, she is incorrupt. Hence I believe the Apostle said: Fervent in spirit."
All these things Angelomus transcribed word for word from St. Jerome, and he adds: Hence the Lord says in Luke 12: "I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I desire except that it burn?" He who, kindling the hearts of His disciples, compelled them to say: "Was not our heart burning within us, while He spoke on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" For we should embrace and love this young woman, who signifies the greater wisdom of the elderly; not childish declamations, and the little flowers of the learned dialecticians, and the enticements of words." Then he proves the same with examples of philosophers: "For if Cato," he says, "the most eloquent of the Roman race (as a certain learned man has said), already eighty years old and aged, was neither ashamed of Greek letters nor despaired of learning them; and if certainly, as they say, Homer relates that from the tongue of Nestor, now old and almost decrepit, a speech sweeter than honey flowed; and a certain wise man of Greece, when at the completion of one hundred and seven years he saw himself dying, is said to have expressed sorrow that he was departing from life just when he had begun to be wise: Plato also died while writing in his eightieth year; Socrates completed seventy-nine years in the labor of teaching and writing:
how much more, while the warmth of bodily youth persists amid the wars of the body and the enticements of vices, should we learn wisdom; so that in old age, even as we grow cold, it may rest in the bosom of our mind, and cherish and sleep with us, indeed minister to us the food of spiritual understanding! For this woman can also bear the figure of the contemplative life, which all the perfect, embracing with incredible love, are set aflame in devotion to her." David therefore takes Abishag, who represents the wisdom proper to old age. For "Abishag," as St. Jerome interprets in the passage just cited, means "abundant" and "roaring." "In the elderly," he says, "the most abundant thunder of the divine word, beyond human voice, dwells."
St. Prosper gives the tropological cause, book 2 of Predestination, chapter 27: "Abishag," he says, "signifies the soul set aflame by the grace of God with the warmth of chastity, which kindles with its affection the cold powers in faith, as the members of the great king."
Angelomus and Rupert give the symbolic interpretation: David, they say, that is Christ, with the old Synagogue of the Jews dead and rejected, betrothed to himself the young woman Abishag, that is, the new Church of Christians: "And He burned with such ardor of faith in love for her that He willingly committed Himself to various dangers for the sake of her love, and at the last did not refuse to die for her name."
Verse 4: The Young Woman Was Exceedingly Beautiful
4. NOW THE YOUNG WOMAN WAS EXCEEDINGLY BEAUTIFUL. — Physicians teach, says Dionysius, that virgin girls are warmer than those who are corrupted and have given birth, and that beautiful ones stimulate appetite more, and by bringing cheerfulness rouse natural warmth; even without sexual intercourse. See more on this matter in Abulensis, Questions 4 and 5.
AND SHE SLEPT WITH THE KING AND MINISTERED TO HIM. — One may ask whether Abishag was the wife of David or a handmaid? Abulensis denies she was a wife, chapter 2, Question 23, and proves it first because if she had been David's wife, Adonijah his son could not have, nor would have dared to, demand her as wife for himself: for this is forbidden in Leviticus 18:7, which nevertheless he did, chapter 2:17.
Second, because David, being cold, was impotent for conjugal intercourse; therefore he was incapable of contracting marriage.
But that Abishag was the wife of David is commonly taught by the other interpreters, such as St. Jerome, Procopius, Theodoret, Angelomus, Lyranus, Dionysius, Serarius, Cajetan, Salianus, and Pineda, book 5 On Solomon, chapter 1, number 4. For Scripture insinuates this when it says: "And she slept with the king, etc., and he did not know her;" as if to say: He could have known her as a husband, but in fact he did not know her as being cold and incapable of begetting. Add that decency required this, that he not sleep with a woman unless she were his wife; namely to avoid the danger of temptation and adultery, if the temptation of intercourse in the presence of so beautiful a virgin had assailed him.
To the first argument of Abulensis, Cajetan responds that the law of Leviticus that a son should not take his father's wife is understood of one who was perfectly a wife, namely who consummated the marriage through intercourse: or at least that Adonijah was ignorant of this law, because he was a layman and a young courtier, and the king's son; who looked not so much to the law as to the kingdom, and therefore sought Abishag as wife, so that through her, as his father's wife and queen, he might attain to the kingdom and succeed his father; which he could not have hoped if Abishag had been merely David's handmaid, not his wife. But I shall say more about this in chapter 2:17.
To the second he responds that David was not by nature cold or impotent for intercourse, indeed he could have performed the conjugal act; for Scripture insinuates this when it says: "And he did not know her;" as if to say: He could have known her, but in fact he did not, so as not to take away her virginity but to preserve it. For many of cold constitution are capable of the conjugal act. Hence in the elderly and barren, there is no impotence that impedes and invalidates marriage.
For which note: In elderly persons who are so cold and exhausted that they cannot be helped either by nature or by art to emit seed, there is no valid marriage if they contract one; but in elderly persons who can emit seed, even if they cannot beget, because their seed is unfit for generation, the marriage is valid, as Sylvester teaches under the word Marriage, Scotus and Dominic de Soto in book 4, treatise On Marriage, Sanchez and others: but this defect and inability to emit seed is rare. Hence the Church ordinarily grants even the most decrepit elderly the faculty of contracting marriage. See our Thomas Sanchez, treatise On Marriage, book 7, disputation 92, numbers 19 and following; indeed Navarrus, Vega and others are of the opinion that the marriage contract is always valid in the elderly, on the ground that they retain the intrinsic power of emission, and it is only accidental that old age prevents it from being put into act. But it is more true, as Sanchez and others say, that for marriage a true and proper capacity for conjugal intercourse, which occurs through emission, is required.
Verse 5: Adonijah Exalted Himself
5. THEN ADONIJAH THE SON OF HAGGITH EXALTED HIMSELF SAYING: I WILL BE KING — because although he was the fourth son of David, yet with the three eldest sons of David now dead, he was his firstborn; hence by right of primogeniture the kingdom seemed to belong to him; but because he sought it proudly and rushed into it prematurely, he therefore fell from it, and Solomon by the modesty of his spirit deserved to obtain it, the dignity and honor of primogeniture being transferred to him. Hence St. Ambrose, Apology 1 on David, chapter 5: "David was so cautious," he says, "that when he discovered that his son Adonijah was usurping the kingdom for himself, being convened, he chose not the one who was eager to seize it, but the one who was waiting." For he knew that the kingdom was owed to Solomon by God's ordinance and decree; for God had revealed this to him, book 2, chapter 7:12, and therefore David had sworn to Bathsheba that he would raise her son Solomon to the kingdom.
Verse 10: He Did Not Invite Solomon
10. AND HE DID NOT INVITE SOLOMON HIS BROTHER — as being his rival for the kingdom. For he knew that the kingdom had been promised to him by David and by God, and therefore he was striving to snatch it from him.
Verse 21: I and My Son Solomon Shall Be Counted Offenders
21. I AND MY SON SOLOMON SHALL BE COUNTED OFFENDERS — that is, I and Solomon shall be regarded and punished by Adonijah as sinners and rebels, because we did not consent to his invasion of the kingdom.
Again, "sinners" on account of the adultery which I once committed with you; for the infamy of this sin was being renewed and exaggerated by Adonijah to deprive Solomon of the kingdom, by telling the people: Take care not to make Solomon your king, as the son of an adulteress, and therefore infamous. So Cajetan. Hence St. Jerome in the Traditions reads: "We shall be manzeres," that is, we shall be held as illegitimate and infamous.
Verse 36: So May the Lord God Speak
36. SO MAY THE LORD GOD SPEAK — that is, may God approve and confirm what you say, namely that Solomon should succeed you in the kingdom.
Verse 39: Zadok Took the Horn of Oil and Anointed Solomon
39. AND ZADOK THE PRIEST TOOK THE HORN OF OIL FROM THE TABERNACLE (therefore this was sacred oil, with which King Solomon was to be anointed and consecrated), AND ANOINTED SOLOMON. — Note: The anointing of the kings of Judah ordinarily seems to have been done by the high priest with holy oil. This is proved because of David it is said: "With My holy oil I have anointed him" (Psalm 88:21). The same is clear of Solomon, whom Zadok here anointed with oil from the tabernacle, which was holy. For kings were, as it were, the Lord's anointed, inasmuch as they were leaders and rulers of God's faithful and holy people in God's stead. Extraordinarily, however, some were anointed by a prophet, and then they seem to have sometimes used not oil from the tabernacle but other common oil, which nevertheless seems to have been blessed by the prophet — for example, if he was far from the temple where this oil was, as Elijah was when dwelling in Samaria and Mount Carmel, when he sent Elisha to anoint Hazael at Damascus and Jehu in Ramoth-gilead; indeed commonly the kings of Israel, as schismatics and enemies of Judah, seem to have been anointed with oil not from the tabernacle, which was in Jerusalem, but with other oil. Thus Absalom (2 Samuel 19:10) was anointed, but not with holy oil, as it was during a rebellion, the high priest being absent and fleeing with David. Joshua also was consecrated as leader of the people not by anointing but by the laying on of hands by Moses (Numbers 27).
Furthermore, David, says Abulensis, in his first anointing was not anointed by Samuel with holy oil, because this anointing was private; and if Saul had learned of it, he would have punished everyone severely. Nor in his second, when he was anointed by the tribe of Judah in Hebron; because then the tabernacle, in which the holy oil was, was in Gibeon, where Ishbosheth, David's enemy, reigned. But in his third, when he was anointed and accepted as king by all Israel.
Finally, kings were anointed with one oil, and high priests and priests with another; for kings with simple oil, but priests with oil compounded from spices, namely from myrrh, cinnamon, cassia, and calamus, which were mixed with olive oil, as is clear from Exodus 30:23, 31, and 32, where this oil is called holy, and it is forbidden under pain of death for any layperson to be anointed with it. Therefore a king could not be anointed with it, but with lay and common oil, which was nevertheless called holy because it was taken from the holy tabernacle, and sanctified by a certain rite for anointing a faithful king who would rule God's people, and was applied by the consecrated high priest. Therefore the consecration of priests was far holier than that of kings, as is clear from the rite described in all of Exodus chapter 29 and Leviticus chapter 8. So judge Oleaster, Cajetan, Ystella, and Lipomanus on Exodus 30, and St. Augustine supports this, Question 135 on Exodus, and Lorinus on Psalm 88:21. However, the Rabbis hold the contrary opinion, whom Genebrardus cites and follows on Psalm 88:21, Lyranus, Dionysius here, and Isidore, book 3 On Offices, chapter 25, who think that David and Solomon and their descendants were anointed with the same oil with which the high priests were anointed. For they say that by the counsel of Samuel and the prophets of that age a dispensation was made from the law forbidding it (Exodus 30, 31, and 32) for the kings of David's family, in favor of Christ the Lord who was to arise from it, of whose spiritual and divine anointing that external anointing was a type, and of whom both they and afterward all kings might recognize themselves to be vicars and ministers. Isidore adds that they were therefore called Christs, because they were anointed with the same chrism as the priests, so that it was therefore sacrilege to touch them (Psalm 104:15). Pineda holds the same view, book 2 On Solomon, chapter 6, and Barradius, volume 2, book 3, chapter 41. But all these rely on Hebrew tradition, which is often false and deceptive, especially in this place, where it invents a dispensation directly contrary to God's law. Therefore the former opinion, as more conformable to Sacred Scripture, is also the truer one.
Finally, by this anointing it was signified that the king should put on mercy and the other virtues which are represented by oil, and that he should be the physician of his subjects, as Isaiah says in chapter 3:7. See on the anointing of Christian kings our John Azor, volume 2 of Moral Institutions, book 10, chapter 5, Question 1, article 3, and book 11, chapter 5, Question 3.
One may ask how old Solomon was when he was anointed king? The Hebrews report that he was twelve years old. St. Ignatius followed the Hebrews, epistle to the Magnesians; St. Jerome, epistle 132 to Vitalis; Eusebius, book 9 of the Preparation, chapter 4; Clement of Rome, book 2 of the Apostolic Constitutions, chapter 1; Cedrenus, Zonaras, Abulensis, and Serarius. Again, Josephus says Solomon was made king at the age of 14. Severus Sulpitius says at the age of 16. For Josephus, book 8, chapter 2, at the end, says Solomon lived 94 years and reigned 80; therefore he began to reign at the age of 14. But this is a manifest error.
I say therefore that Solomon, when he was made king, was twenty years old. This is proved because he had already taken a wife and from her begotten Rehoboam; for Rehoboam, when he succeeded him in the kingdom after 40 years, was 41 years old; therefore he was begotten by him one year before the father began to reign. For what the Rabbis and their followers say, that Solomon begot Rehoboam in the twelfth year of his age, is incredible and is commonly held to be impossible. And who would believe that the wisest David gave a wife to Solomon when he was only twelve?
Second, because David calls him a man in chapter 2:9, saying: "You are a wise man, so that you will know what to do to him."
Third, because Solomon died an old man, and in old age was corrupted by women. Therefore he was then about 60 years old. But he reigned for 40 years. Therefore he was made king at the age of twenty. So Lyranus, Torniellus, Gordon, Salianus, Pineda, book 8, chapter 4, and others, who think Solomon was 20 or more years old when he entered on the kingdom.
Solomon was therefore born shortly after David's adultery, when he was in the fiftieth year of his age, as I showed at 2 Samuel chapter 12, verse 24. For if he had begun to reign at age 12, he would have died at age 52; which is a manly age, not an old one.
You will say: In 1 Chronicles 29:1, Solomon is called "a boy." I respond "boy," that is, a young man, as the Septuagint translates, because in comparison with so magnificent a temple which he had to build for God, he was like a boy for so great a work.
39. AND ALL THE PEOPLE SAID: LONG LIVE KING SOLOMON! — From this it is clear that Solomon, publicly anointed and accepted by the whole people as king, immediately began to reign in fact, and that David, now weary with old age, had transferred the kingdom and its administration to him. The following events teach this. For immediately Solomon as king spared Adonijah and sent him home. Hence St. Ambrose, book 3 on Luke; St. Augustine, book 17 of the City of God, chapter 8; St. Jerome, epistle 132; Severus Sulpitius and others assert that Solomon began to reign while his father was still alive, and Josephus says expressly, book 7, chapter 10, at the end: "After Solomon was then conducted to the palace and placed on his father's throne, from that day forward they were obedient to him."
Symbolically, Rupert says: "While the father was still living," he says, "King Solomon is established; because indeed God the Father, who established Christ as king and heir of all things, has never died and will never die."
Furthermore, David transferred the kingdom to Solomon in such a way that he himself nevertheless did not lay down his royal authority and right, nor the burden and care of the kingdom, but retained them until death, yet in such a way that he allowed Solomon to reign with him, and transferred many affairs of the kingdom to him. This is clear from chapter 2, where David on his deathbed gives many commands to Solomon.
Verse 45: Zadok and Nathan Anointed Him King at Gihon
45. AND ZADOK THE PRIEST (that is, the supreme high priest) AND NATHAN THE PROPHET ANOINTED HIM KING AT GIHON. — Gihon was a hill, and on it a spring near Mount Calvary, on which Christ crucified "reigned from the wood as God," as the Church sings from the Septuagint. Hence on the cross Pilate gave Him this title: "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." Therefore Solomon anointed at Gihon prefigured this kingdom of Christ who was to be born from his line: for Solomon, that is, the peaceful king, was an express type of Christ, who is "our Peace, who has made both one" (Ephesians 2:14) — namely, uniting in Himself both Jews and Gentiles and reconciling them to God. Furthermore, the name of Solomon was appropriated by the emperors of the Turks, who after Solomon were called Selim and Suleiman; by the Germans as Friedrich (for Friedrich in German means the same as "rich in peace"); by the Greeks as Irene and Irenaeus.
Finally, Solomon was anointed twice: first, here before the tribe of Judah suddenly and tumultuously, to exclude Adonijah from the kingdom; second, publicly before all Israel, so that they would accept him as king, whom David for this purpose convened shortly before his death, when Zadok also was anointed as high priest, as is expressly stated in 1 Chronicles 29:22. Solomon began to reign in the year of the world 2930, 289 years before the founding of Rome, 1020 years before the birth of Christ, according to the Chronological Table which I prefixed to the Pentateuch.
Verse 47: The King's Servants Blessed David
47. AND THE KING'S SERVANTS CAME IN AND BLESSED OUR LORD KING DAVID, SAYING: MAY GOD MAKE THE NAME OF SOLOMON GREATER THAN YOUR NAME, AND MAKE HIS THRONE GREATER THAN YOUR THRONE. — They knew this would not be a cause of envy for David, but welcome and desired. For parents wish that their children may grow in wealth and glory, and surpass what they left behind. For as the glory of the son grows, so does the glory of the father. Furthermore, the outcome answered this prayer of the people: for Solomon surpassed David in the extent of his kingdom, in wealth, delights, magnificence, wisdom, and glory, but not in virtue and holiness, at least in his old age. Thus Claudian sang of the Emperor Honorius in his fourth Consulship:
Behold, the prayer is fulfilled; your son already equals You in merits, and what is more to be wished, surpasses you.
And Sidonius Apollinaris, book 8, epistle 7, to Audax the Prefect: "I beseech God," he says, "that your sons may follow you, or, what is more fitting to wish, surpass you." See Seneca, book 3 On Benefits, chapters 36 and 37, where he also recounts various examples of sons who surpassed their parents in virtue and benefactions, and exhorts posterity to do the same, adding: "Happy are those who conquer, happy those who are conquered." And he gives the reason: "For virtue is by nature glorious, and desires to outstrip its predecessors."
Furthermore, 1 Chronicles 29:24 adds: "And all the princes, and the mighty men, and all the sons of King David gave their hand and were subject to King Solomon." In Hebrew it reads: They gave their hand under King Solomon. The Vulgate adds by way of explanation, "were subject," so that the extending of the hand was a sign of subjection; second, "they gave their hand," that is, by giving their hand they promised fidelity to Solomon, says Lyranus; third, "they gave their hand" as a sign of congratulation and exultation, congratulating Solomon their brother on the kingdom he had obtained.
AND THE KING WORSHIPPED ON HIS BED — that is, David, worshipping God, praised Him and gave thanks that He had given him before death to see his successor, his son Solomon, sitting on the royal throne with such great popular acclaim.
Verse 52: If He Proves Himself a Worthy Man
52. IF HE PROVES HIMSELF A WORTHY MAN, NOT ONE HAIR OF HIS SHALL FALL TO THE EARTH — that is, if Adonijah henceforth conducts himself rightly, faithfully, and obediently toward me, acknowledging me as king and not plotting any rebellion against me, I will pardon him for having invaded the kingdom, and will inflict no evil upon him. But if he again seeks the kingdom by stratagems and plots, I will punish him according to his deserts. And because Adonijah did this, he was therefore put to death by Solomon, as we shall hear in the following chapter.
Verse 53: Go to Your House
53. GO TO YOUR HOUSE. — These are the words of Solomon to Adonijah, somewhat offended, rebuking his ambition and threatening just punishment if he should attempt anything new: that is, I pardon you this time, O Adonijah, for your ambition and the injury done to me; but if hereafter you attempt anything of the sort, know that I shall remember this injury and punish you more severely for both. Go therefore to your house, be at peace there, and attend to your own affairs, and do not involve yourself in the public business of my kingdom, otherwise you will experience my just vengeance.