Question 1

While David was old, what did his son Adonijah do (1 Kings 1:5)?

Accepted Answer

Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and announced that he would be king (1:5). He gathered chariots, horsemen and a band of fifty runners to go before him, the same kind of display his older brother Absalom had used before his rebellion (2 Samuel 15:1). The text presents this as Adonijah lifting himself up rather than being chosen. Scripture warns that pride goes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18) and that God humbles one person and lifts up another (Psalm 75:7). The rest of the chapter shows the throne going not to the one who grabbed for it but to the one God had chosen.

Question 2

What action of Adonijah does 1 Kings 1:5 report?

Accepted Answer

Haggith’s son Adonijah exalted himself, declaring that he would reign, and equipped himself with chariots, horsemen and fifty runners (1:5), the same kind of royal display Absalom had assembled before his revolt (2 Samuel 15:1). The narrator frames this as self-exaltation, not divine appointment. The wisdom tradition’s warning that pride precedes destruction (Proverbs 16:18) and the psalmist’s confession that God alone brings down and exalts (Psalm 75:7) set the terms for what follows: the kingdom passes not to the self-appointed claimant but to the son God had chosen.

Question 3

After his guests scattered in terror, what did Adonijah do (1 Kings 1:50)?

Accepted Answer

When the news came, all of Adonijah’s guests got up and fled in fear (1:49). Adonijah, afraid of Solomon, went and gripped the altar’s horns (1:50), the raised corner pieces of the altar of sacrifice (Exodus 27:2). By clinging to the holy altar he sought protection, and he asked that Solomon first swear not to kill him (1:51). The man who had announced that he would be king now calls himself Solomon’s servant and begs for his life. His fall shows the truth of the proverb that pride leads to ruin (Proverbs 16:18).

Question 4

Where did Adonijah seek refuge once his supporters scattered (1 Kings 1:50)?

Accepted Answer

With his guests scattered in terror (1:49), Adonijah seizes the altar’s horns (1:50), the corner projections of the altar of sacrifice (Exodus 27:2), seeking sanctuary and demanding an oath from Solomon that he will not be put to the sword (1:51). The self-proclaimed king now styles himself Solomon’s servant. His abrupt reversal illustrates the proverb that pride precedes destruction (Proverbs 16:18).

Question 5

Which two leading men of David’s court backed Adonijah’s bid for the throne (1 Kings 1:7)?

Accepted Answer

Adonijah consulted Joab, Zeruiah’s son, who commanded the army, and the priest Abiathar, and both men backed him (1:7). Others in David’s inner circle refused to join: the priest Zadok, Nathan, Benaiah, Shimei, Rei and the king’s warriors (1:8). The court was split, even among men who had served side by side for years: Zadok and Abiathar had both been David’s priests (2 Samuel 15:29), and Benaiah commanded David’s royal guard (2 Samuel 8:18). These sides matter later, because chapter 2 deals with Joab and Abiathar after Solomon takes the throne.

Question 6

Which two of David’s senior officials aligned themselves with Adonijah (1 Kings 1:7)?

Accepted Answer

Joab, the army commander, and the priest Abiathar conferred with Adonijah and backed him (1:7). The priest Zadok, Nathan, Benaiah, Shimei, Rei and the king’s warriors stood apart (1:8). The division cut across long partnerships: Zadok and Abiathar had served jointly as David’s priests (2 Samuel 15:29), while Benaiah led the royal guard (2 Samuel 8:18). The alignments drawn here determine the outcomes of chapter 2, where Joab and Abiathar each answer for their part.

Question 7

What did Benaiah pray for Solomon after hearing David’s orders (1 Kings 1:37)?

Accepted Answer

Benaiah, Jehoiada’s son, responded with Amen, meaning so be it, and asked that the LORD Himself would confirm David’s word (1:36). He prayed that the LORD would stand by Solomon as He had stood by David, and would make Solomon’s throne still greater than his father’s (1:37). The prayer looks to God, not to human plans, as the One who gives a king success. Chronicles records that the LORD did highly exalt Solomon with royal majesty beyond any king before him (1 Chronicles 29:25), and God soon gave him a heart of wisdom and discernment beyond any other (1 Kings 3:12).

Question 8

What did Benaiah ask of the LORD on Solomon’s behalf (1 Kings 1:37)?

Accepted Answer

Benaiah seals David’s command with Amen and asks that the LORD ratify it (1:36), praying that the LORD’s presence with David would continue with Solomon and that Solomon’s throne would surpass David’s (1:37). The prayer grounds the succession in God’s presence rather than in court maneuvering. The petition was answered: the LORD exalted Solomon with unprecedented royal majesty (1 Chronicles 29:25) and granted him a heart of wisdom and discernment without equal (1 Kings 3:12).

Question 9

According to Jonathan’s report, for what did David bless the LORD from his bed (1 Kings 1:48)?

Accepted Answer

Jonathan reported that David bowed down on his bed to worship and blessed Israel’s God, because that day God had provided someone to sit on his throne, and David had lived to see it (1:47-48). David gives the credit to God, not to Nathan’s plan or his own decree. God had promised to raise up a descendant from David’s body and establish his kingdom (2 Samuel 7:12), and had sworn that one of his sons would sit on his throne (Psalm 132:11). David saw the beginning of that promise fulfilled in Solomon, the son the LORD had chosen (1 Chronicles 28:5).

Question 10

What did David praise the LORD for as he worshiped on his bed (1 Kings 1:48)?

Accepted Answer

David bows in worship and blesses the LORD for providing, that very day, a successor for his throne, and for letting him witness it (1:47-48). The king attributes the succession to God’s provision rather than to the court’s intervention. The covenant had promised a descendant from David’s own body whose kingdom God would establish (2 Samuel 7:12), confirmed by sworn oath (Psalm 132:11); Solomon’s enthronement is the first installment of that promise and the outworking of the LORD’s choice (1 Chronicles 28:5).

Question 11

True or False: The narrator says that David had never once questioned Adonijah about why he behaved as he did.

Accepted Answer

This is true. In a brief aside, the narrator says that David had never once corrected Adonijah by asking him why he acted as he did (1:6). The same verse adds that Adonijah was very handsome and was the son born after Absalom; he was David’s fourth son (2 Samuel 3:4-5). The remark stands right beside Adonijah’s grab for the throne. Scripture elsewhere records a similar failure in Eli, whose house the LORD judged because he failed to hold his sons back (1 Samuel 3:13).

Question 12

True or False: According to 1 Kings 1:6, David had never once challenged Adonijah by asking why he acted as he did.

Accepted Answer

This is true. The narrator’s parenthesis records that David had never reprimanded Adonijah by questioning his conduct (1:6), and adds that he was handsome and the son born after Absalom, David’s fourth son (2 Samuel 3:4-5). The remark stands beside Adonijah’s self-exaltation. It recalls Eli’s failure to restrain his sons, for which the LORD judged his house (1 Samuel 3:13).

Question 13

How does the narrator describe King David’s condition at the start of 1 Kings (1 Kings 1:1)?

Accepted Answer

The book opens with David near the end of his life: he is very old, and even when his servants pile blankets on him he cannot stay warm (1:1). His servants find a young woman, Abishag from Shunem, to look after him, and the narrator states simply that he did not have relations with her (1:2-4). David had begun to reign at thirty and ruled for forty years (2 Samuel 5:4), so a long reign is ending. The king’s weakness sets up the crisis of the chapter: with David frail and quiet, the question of his successor is suddenly urgent. Paul later sums up David’s life as doing the work God gave him in his own lifetime before he died (Acts 13:36).

Question 14

What condition of David opens 1 Kings and sets up the succession crisis (1 Kings 1:1)?

Accepted Answer

The narrative begins with David’s physical decline: aged and unable to keep warm despite being covered with blankets (1:1). His servants bring Abishag the Shunammite to attend him, and the narrator notes in one clause that he did not have relations with her (1:2-4). After a forty-year reign begun at thirty (2 Samuel 5:4), David’s frailty creates a vacuum, and the unresolved question of the successor drives the rest of the chapter. Paul’s summary of David’s life, that he carried out God’s will in his own lifetime and then died (Acts 13:36), frames this closing season.

Question 15

In his oath to Bathsheba, how did David describe the LORD (1 Kings 1:29)?

Accepted Answer

David called Bathsheba back and took an oath in the name of the living LORD, describing Him as the One who had redeemed, or rescued, him out of every distress (1:29). He promised to carry out that very day what he had sworn: Solomon would reign after him and sit on his throne in his place (1:30). David had used the same description of the LORD years before (2 Samuel 4:9), and his psalms praise God for saving him out of every trouble (Psalm 34:6). Looking back over his whole life, David confesses that the LORD had been his rescuer. He also keeps his sworn word, as the law required of anyone who bound himself with an oath (Numbers 30:2).

Question 16

What description of the LORD did David include in his oath to Bathsheba (1 Kings 1:29)?

Accepted Answer

David swears by the living LORD, the One who had redeemed him out of every distress (1:29), and pledges to fulfill that day his earlier oath that Solomon would reign in his place (1:30). The same confession appears in an earlier oath (2 Samuel 4:9) and echoes his psalm of deliverance from all troubles (Psalm 34:6): at the end of his life David attributes his preservation wholly to the LORD’s redeeming hand. His prompt action also honors the law’s requirement that a sworn word to the LORD be kept (Numbers 30:2).

Question 17

What did Bathsheba say would happen to her and Solomon if David stayed silent (1 Kings 1:21)?

Accepted Answer

Bathsheba told David that all Israel was looking to him to announce who would sit on his throne after him (1:20). If he said nothing, then once he died, she and her son Solomon would be treated as criminals (1:21). Her point was that the matter could not be left unsettled: Adonijah had already acted, and Solomon’s side would be treated as rebels against the new regime. God had promised David a descendant from his own body whose kingdom He would establish (2 Samuel 7:12). David’s decision would show whether he would keep faith with the oath he had sworn, and Proverbs says a king is kept secure, and his throne upheld, by faithfulness and loving devotion (Proverbs 20:28).

Question 18

According to Bathsheba, what would befall her and Solomon if David failed to name his successor (1 Kings 1:21)?

Accepted Answer

Bathsheba presses the urgency: all Israel awaits David’s word on the succession (1:20), and if he dies without declaring it, she and Solomon will be reckoned as criminals (1:21). With Adonijah already acting as king, the faction loyal to Solomon would be treated as rebels. The dynastic promise had specified a son from David’s body whose kingdom God would establish (2 Samuel 7:12), and David’s own oath now required action; a king, Proverbs says, is preserved and his throne maintained by faithfulness and loving devotion (Proverbs 20:28).

Question 19

At his feast near En-rogel, whom did Adonijah leave off his guest list (1 Kings 1:9-10)?

Accepted Answer

Adonijah offered sacrifices and held a feast near En-rogel, inviting the king’s other sons and Judah’s royal officials (1:9). But he left out Nathan, Benaiah, David’s warriors and his brother Solomon (1:10). The guest list sets the two brothers on opposite sides. Solomon was the son whom the LORD had loved from birth, as Nathan himself had been sent to say (2 Samuel 12:24-25). God had told David a son named Solomon would bring Israel peace (1 Chronicles 22:9), and David later declared that the LORD had chosen Solomon out of all his sons (1 Chronicles 28:5).

Question 20

Whom did Adonijah exclude from his sacrificial feast at En-rogel (1 Kings 1:9-10)?

Accepted Answer

Adonijah sacrificed and feasted near En-rogel with the king’s other sons and Judah’s royal officials (1:9), but excluded Nathan, Benaiah, David’s warriors and Solomon (1:10). The guest list divides the court and sets Solomon apart from Adonijah’s party. Solomon was the son the LORD had loved from birth, a love announced through Nathan (2 Samuel 12:24-25), named beforehand as the man of peace (1 Chronicles 22:9), and, as David later declared, chosen by the LORD from among all his sons (1 Chronicles 28:5).

Question 21

Who arrived at Adonijah’s feast and reported that David had made Solomon king (1 Kings 1:42-43)?

Accepted Answer

Adonijah and his guests were just ending their meal when the ram’s horn sounded, and Joab asked why the city was in an uproar (1:41). Jonathan, son of the priest Abiathar, came in, and Adonijah greeted him as a worthy man who had surely come with good tidings (1:42). Jonathan replied that the news was the opposite: King David had made Solomon king (1:43). He went on to describe the anointing at Gihon, Solomon seated on the throne, and the court’s blessing (1:44-48). Years earlier this same Jonathan had carried news to David during Absalom’s revolt (2 Samuel 15:36; 17:17); now he brings word that ends Adonijah’s hopes.

Question 22

Which messenger brought Adonijah’s feast the news that Solomon had been made king (1 Kings 1:42-43)?

Accepted Answer

As the ram’s horn sounds and Joab asks about the uproar (1:41), Abiathar’s son Jonathan arrives; Adonijah greets him as a valiant man bearing good news (1:42). Jonathan reports the reverse: Solomon has been made king by David (1:43), and he recounts the anointing, the enthronement and the court’s blessing (1:44-48). The son of Adonijah’s own priestly supporter, who had once served as David’s courier during Absalom’s rebellion (2 Samuel 15:36; 17:17), delivers the news that collapses Adonijah’s claim.

Question 23

What did Nathan tell Bathsheba to remind David about (1 Kings 1:13)?

Accepted Answer

Nathan the prophet warned Bathsheba that Adonijah had made himself king without David knowing, and urged her to act to save her own life and Solomon’s (1:11-12). He told her to go to David and ask whether he had not sworn to her that her son Solomon would reign after him and sit on his throne (1:13). Nathan would then come in and confirm her words (1:14). Nathan was the same prophet through whom the LORD had given David His promise about his house (2 Samuel 7:4), and who had carried the LORD’s message of love for the baby Solomon (2 Samuel 12:25). God had said Solomon would build His house and have his throne established (1 Chronicles 22:10).

Question 24

What sworn promise did Nathan instruct Bathsheba to bring to David’s remembrance (1 Kings 1:13)?

Accepted Answer

Nathan informs Bathsheba that Adonijah has seized the kingship without David’s knowledge and counsels her to save her life and Solomon’s (1:11-12). She is to ask David whether he had not sworn to her that Solomon would reign after him and sit on his throne (1:13), and Nathan will follow to confirm her account (1:14). Nathan is the prophet through whom the dynastic promise came (2 Samuel 7:4) and who announced the LORD’s love for the infant Solomon (2 Samuel 12:25); God had designated Solomon as the temple-builder whose throne He would establish (1 Chronicles 22:10). Nathan’s plan serves the outworking of God’s declared choice.

Question 25

When Nathan came in after Bathsheba, what did he ask David (1 Kings 1:24, 27)?

Accepted Answer

As planned, Nathan arrived before Bathsheba had finished (1:22-23). He asked David whether the king had in fact declared that Adonijah would reign after him (1:24), describing the feast where guests were acclaiming Adonijah as king while Nathan, Zadok, Benaiah and Solomon had been left out (1:25-26). He then asked whether David had allowed this without telling his servants who should succeed him (1:27). Nathan’s question confirmed Bathsheba’s report and called David to act. Nathan had personally delivered God’s promise of a son whose kingdom the LORD would establish (2 Samuel 7:12) and the LORD’s word of love for Solomon (2 Samuel 12:24-25).

Question 26

What question did Nathan put to David to confirm Bathsheba’s report (1 Kings 1:24, 27)?

Accepted Answer

Arriving before Bathsheba had finished (1:22-23), Nathan asks whether David has decreed that Adonijah should reign after him (1:24), reports the acclamation at Adonijah’s feast and the exclusion of Nathan, Zadok, Benaiah and Solomon (1:25-26), and asks whether the king has done this without informing his servants of the successor (1:27). The question both corroborates Bathsheba and forces a royal decision. Nathan speaks as the prophet who delivered the dynastic promise (2 Samuel 7:12) and the LORD’s declaration of love for Solomon (2 Samuel 12:24-25).

Question 27

How did the people respond after Zadok anointed Solomon at Gihon (1 Kings 1:39-40)?

Accepted Answer

Zadok brought a horn of oil out of the tabernacle, the tent where God was worshiped, and anointed Solomon (1:39). The ram’s horn sounded, and the whole crowd shouted their acclaim for King Solomon. They then followed him up from Gihon with flutes and great joy, so loudly that the text says the earth split with the sound (1:40). The scene echoes earlier moments when the people acclaimed a king the LORD had chosen (1 Samuel 10:24; 2 Kings 11:12). Unlike Adonijah’s private feast for invited guests, Solomon’s anointing was public and joyful, carried out at the king’s command by priest and prophet.

Question 28

What response of the people followed Solomon’s anointing by Zadok (1 Kings 1:39-40)?

Accepted Answer

Zadok anoints Solomon with oil taken from the tabernacle (1:39), the ram’s horn is blown, and the whole people acclaim him and follow him with flutes and rejoicing so great that the text says the ground split with the noise (1:40). The public acclamation parallels the people’s response when Saul was presented as the LORD’s chosen (1 Samuel 10:24) and the later acclamation of Joash (2 Kings 11:12). Over against Adonijah’s exclusive feast, Solomon’s accession is open, sanctioned by the reigning king and carried out by priest and prophet.

Question 29

What condition did Solomon attach to sparing Adonijah’s life (1 Kings 1:52)?

Accepted Answer

Solomon did not swear the oath Adonijah asked for. Instead he set a condition: if Adonijah proved himself worthy, he would not lose a single hair, yet if wickedness was discovered in him, he would die (1:52). Saying that not a hair would fall was a familiar pledge that a life would be spared (1 Samuel 14:45). Adonijah left the altar and bowed to King Solomon, who told him to go home (1:53). The new king showed mercy, but conditional mercy. In chapter 2, after a later request from Adonijah, Solomon swears that it has cost him his life (2:23-24).

Question 30

On what condition did Solomon grant Adonijah his life (1 Kings 1:52)?

Accepted Answer

Solomon declines the requested oath and instead sets terms: if Adonijah proves a worthy man he will not lose a single hair, yet if wickedness is discovered in him he must die (1:52), using a familiar formula for sparing a life (1 Samuel 14:45). Adonijah leaves the altar, bows before Solomon, and is sent home (1:53). The clemency is real but conditional; in chapter 2, after Adonijah’s request for Abishag, Solomon swears that the request has forfeited his life (2:23-24).

Question 31

According to David’s instructions, who were to anoint Solomon king at Gihon (1 Kings 1:34)?

Accepted Answer

David gave detailed orders. Solomon was to ride David’s own mule down to Gihon (1:33). There the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan were to anoint him, that is, pour oil on him to set him apart as king, and the ram’s horn was to sound with a public cry wishing the new king long life (1:34). Then Solomon would sit on David’s throne, for David had named him ruler of both Israel and Judah (1:35). Anointing marked a man as the king the LORD had chosen, as when Samuel anointed Saul and David (1 Samuel 10:1; 16:13). Chronicles also records a second anointing of Solomon as ruler, when Zadok was anointed as priest (1 Chronicles 29:22).

Question 32

Which two men did David commission to anoint Solomon at Gihon (1 Kings 1:34)?

Accepted Answer

David’s orders are precise: Solomon on the royal mule to Gihon (1:33), anointed there by the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan, the ram’s horn sounded and the acclamation raised (1:34), and Solomon enthroned as David’s chosen ruler of both Israel and Judah (1:35). Priest and prophet together, the two leaders who had refused Adonijah, carry out the anointing. As with Saul and David (1 Samuel 10:1; 16:13), anointing designates the king as the LORD’s chosen ruler; Chronicles likewise records Solomon anointed as ruler a second time, and Zadok as priest (1 Chronicles 29:22).

1 Kings 1 Study Notes: Solomon Anointed King

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