314. Anointment

April 29, 2023

Last week we began to look at who would be king after David. In the passages, David is described as having lost his virility. Although unable to have sex at his advanced age (with apologies to my older readers who still enjoy a good tumble), David is provided with a beautiful virgin to comfort him by keeping his bed warm. We envision a David who has been weakened by the passage of time.

Adonijah begins discussions with court leaders to ascertain who will back him as king. Adonijah has the support of his brothers (except Solomon), the Judahite courtiers of the king, a priest, and a military commander. But he learns that he does not have the support of a different priest, a different military commander, the fighting men, or of the prophet Nathan. Adonijah prepares a feast to mark his upcoming elevation, to which he invites only those who will support him. The feast is held in Kitron, a gathering spot outside of Jerusalem.

With the upcoming coronation of King Charles III, we see a man who patiently waited in the wings for 70 years, until his mother’s death this past September. There was no question that, assuming he outlived his mother, Charles would become king. There was no palace intrigue or concern about fratricide or patricide so that someone else could assume the throne. But that was not always the case. History is riddled with examples of murder in the name of seizing power. And David himself usurped the throne from Saul.

Although Adonijah’s feast was held outside the city, the prophet Nathan is aware that it takes place, and he orchestrates a plan to sabotage Adonijah. He advises Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, to:

Go immediately to King David and say to him, “Did not you, O lord king, swear to your maidservant: ‘Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit upon my throne’”? (1 Kings 1:13)

Bathsheba arrives as planned and finds David in his chamber with the young virgin, Abishag, attending to him. Bathsheba delivers the line as instructed, and she informs David of the feast Adonijah just hosted. We can imagine David might have been annoyed that Adonijah held such a feast before David was dead. And, because we have been told that David is in his dotage, maybe he begins to doubt his own memory.

Next, Nathan arrives at the king’s chamber. Nathan claims to simply be confirming that David knew about Adonijah’s feast, and that David himself must have selected Adonijah as his successor, otherwise Adonijah would not have been so brazen. Nathan asks:

Can this decision have come from my lord the king, without your telling your servant who is to succeed to the throne of my lord the king? (1 Kings 1:27)

Nathan is offering confirmation of the hubris of Adonijah, which served the purpose of agitating David, and Nathan also questions if David would have made such a momentous decision without consulting with his most important advisor—Nathan the prophet!

There is no evidence in the Bible that David ever made this promise to Bathsheba. But in the passage where Nathan tells Bathsheba of the plan is clear that this plan will:

. . . save your life and the life of your son Solomon. (1 Kings 1:12)

This plan will also save Nathan’s life. Like Bathsheba and Solomon, Nathan was excluded from the feast, and it would have been reasonable to expect that these non-supporters would be executed after the death of David, if Adonijah became king. It is possible that, as a prophet of God, Nathan knew that Solomon was God’s preferred successor, meaning that Nathan was just doing God’s will. But whether these moves were God-directed or not, it is true that Nathan was securing his own role near power if Solomon became king. Nathan’s fate is attached to the fortunes of Solomon.

The Talmudic Rabbis, writing hundreds of years after the biblical stories were written, wanted to rehabilitate David’s reputation. We may remember that Moses died at the end of Deuteronomy, still vigorous at the age of 120. According to inner biblical chronology, David was only 70-years old at this point in the story, and he is described as frail. The rabbis created a story that the reason David did not have sex with Abishag was because he already had 18 wives. When Abishag suggested it might be because David was impotent, David called for Bathsheba to come to him and then he proceeded to have sex with Bathsheba 13 times! (Sanhedrin 22a).

The fact that Bathsheba can go into David’s room while he is being cared for by Abishag tells us that, even though David had many wives, Bathsheba had special status. The medieval scholar Kimchi (1105-1170) even went as far as to say that David and Abishag were lying intimately in bed together when Bathsheba went to speak with David. Bathsheba’s position with David, and the confirmation from Nathan that David had promised the throne to Solomon—whether true or not—is enough to convince David that it must be true. David says:

The oath I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, that your son Solomon should succeed me as king and that he should sit upon my throne in my stead, I will fulfill this very day! (1 Kings 1:30)

David calls for Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and the commander of his army, along with loyal soldiers to accompany Solomon to Gihon. Unlike the location where Adonijah had his feast and declared himself, Gihon was a very public watering place close to Jerusalem, where many townspeople would witness the ceremony. We are told that the people:

“. . . sounded the horn and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!” All the people then marched up behind him, playing on flutes and making merry till the earth was split open by the uproar. (1 Kings 1:39-40)

This biblical passage of the anointment of King Solomon has been used in coronations of British monarchs since 973. In 1727, George Frideric Handel set this scenario to music for a coronation anthem, titled “Zadok the Priest.” Those of us who watch the coronation of King Charles next week might be lucky enough to catch that musical tribute.

Before we end, Rabbi Jaech pointed out that our biblical heroes often do not act heroically, which may trouble us. It may be helpful to remember that our ancestors had different sensibilities, and we need to try to put ourselves in the mindset of our ancestors who created this material. What we might view as questionable might have been seen as smart actions by good leaders.

And finally, a reminder of our May 27 Ask the Rabbis session. Do you have questions about Judaism, or about religion in general, that you have always wanted to ask? This is your opportunity! Please email your questions to me, Tara Keiter, at tkeiter@me.com and we will present them to Rabbis Jaech, Pein and Sperling. Their responses will be posted in that Substack post.

Click here to listen to a Prague Philharmonic presentation of Zadok the Priest: https://archive.org/details/HandelZadokThePriestpraguePhil

You can find our podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify under “Jennifer Jaech,” “TINW Torah Study” or, simply, “Torah Study.” Subscribe and rate us!

Misquotes or misunderstandings in what Rabbi Jaech taught are the responsibility of Tara Keiter.