1 Kings 1:33 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Kings 1:32-40

We have here the effectual care David took both to secure Solomon's right and to preserve the public peace, by crushing Adonijah's project in the bud. Observe, I. The express orders he gave for the proclaiming of Solomon. The persons he entrusted with this great affair were Zadok, Nathan, and Benaiah, men of power and interest whom David had always reposed a confidence in and found faithful to him, and whom Adonijah had passed by in his invitation, 1 Kgs. 1:10. David orders them forthwith,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 1:33

And the king said unto them, take ye the servants of your lord ,.... Meaning his own servants, his bodyguards, the Cherethites and Pelethites, as appears from 1 Kings 1:38 ; the Jews F1 Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 6. fol. 186. 3. from hence gather, that a king is superior to an high priest, since David calls himself the lord of Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet: and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule ; for it seems on such a creature David used to ride, as did his... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Kings 1:33

Take with you the servants of your lord - By these we may understand the kings guards, the guards of the city, the Cherethites and Pelethites, who were under the command of Benaiah; and in short, all the disposable force that was at hand. Solomon - to ride upon mine own mule - No subject could use any thing that belonged to the prince, without forfeiting his life. As David offered Solomon to ride on his own mule, this was full evidence that he had appointed him... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Kings 1:1-53

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Kings 1:33

Mules and horses seem to have been first employed by the Israelites in the reign of David, and the use of the former was at first confined to great personages 2 Samuel 13:29; 2 Samuel 18:9. The rabbis tell us that it was death to ride on the king’s mule without his permission; and thus it would be the more evident to all that the proceedings with respect to Solomon had David’s sanction.Gihon - Probably the ancient name of the valley called afterward the Tyropoeum, which ran from the present... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Kings 1:33

1 Kings 1:33. Take with you the servants of your lord His constant guards, the Cherethites and Pelethites, 1 Kings 1:38. Cause Solomon to ride upon mine own mule As a token that the royal dignity is transferred upon him, and that by my consent. The rest of David’s sons were wont to ride upon mules when they went abroad, 2 Samuel 13:29. And Absalom rode on a mule when he was hanged in the oak. But David had a mule peculiarly reserved for himself alone; on which Solomon’s being set, was... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 1:1-53

1:1-4:34 SOLOMON ESTABLISHES HIS KINGDOMSolomon becomes king (1:1-53)David was old and his health was failing. He needed a nurse with him continually, one of her duties being to lie with him in bed to give him warmth. Although this nurse, Abishag, was not David’s concubine, many people apparently thought she was (1:1-4; see note on 2:22).Adonijah, David’s oldest surviving son, decided to establish himself as king while David was still alive, and so prevent any possible claim to the throne by... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - 1 Kings 1:33

mine own mule. David had not disobeyed Deuteronomy 17:16 , as Absalom had done (2 Samuel 15:1 ) and Adonijah (1 Kings 1:5 ). read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - 1 Kings 1:33

1 Kings 1:33. Cause Solomon—to ride upon mine own mule— See 1 Kings 1:44. Maimonides tells us, that it was a capital offence to ride upon the king's ass of mule, to sit upon his throne, or to handle his sceptre, without his order; and, on the contrary, to have the honour to ride on the king's beast by his appointment, was accounted the highest dignity among the Persians, as appears from the history of Mordecai, in the 6th chapter of Esther. Gihon was a little river or brook near Jerusalem,... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - 1 Kings 1:33

33. cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule—Directions were forthwith given for the immediate coronation of Solomon. A procession was to be formed by the "servants of their lord"—that is, the king's bodyguard. Mules were then used by all the princes ( :-); but there was a state mule of which all subjects were forbidden, under pain of death, to make use, without special permission; so that its being granted to Solomon was a public declaration in his favor as the future king (see on :-).... read more