1 Kings 1:9 - Exposition

And Adonijah slew [or sacrificed, LXX . ἐθυσίασεν . It was a sacrificial feast, like Absalom's, 2 Samuel 15:12 (where see Speaker's note). Religious festivity, i.e; was the apparent object of their assembling: religion was invoked, not merely to cloke their designs, but to cement them together] sheep and oxen and fat cattle by [Hebrews with; same expression, 2 Samuel 20:8 ] the stone of Zoheleth, [ i.e. ,"the serpent" (Gesen.) "No satisfactory explanation has been given of this name" (Rawlinson). See Smith's "Dict. Bible" sub voc; where the various interpretations are given. The stone, which served as "a natural altar for the sacrificial feast," the spring, which afforded "water for the necessary ablutions," and the situation with respect to the adjoining city recommended this place as a rendezvous] which is by En-Rogel [ Joshua 15:7 ; Joshua 18:16 ; 2 Samuel 17:17 . Perhaps "the spring of the spy." The Chald; Arab; and Syr. render "the spring, of the fuller"—the Orientals wash clothes, etc; by treading (rogel) them. Josephus says it was without the city, in the royal garden ( ἐν βασιλικῷ παραδείσῳ ). The authorities are divided between the "Fountain of the virgin" (Ain um ed-Deraj), and the "Well of Job" (Bir Eyub.) See the arguments in Bonar's "Land of Promise," App. 5; Thomson's "Land and Book," vol. 2 p. 528; and Mr. Grove's Art. in Smith's "Dict. Bib." Porter ("Handbook of Palestine ") identifies En-Rogel with Bir Eyub without remark. There is much to be said on either side. The pool of Siloam ("Bib. Museum") has nothing in its favour] and called all his brethren the king's sons [including, it would seem, even the elder sons of David and Bathsheba, who would bring up the number to fifteen ( 1 Chronicles 3:5 ). They too, if living, would naturally resent the preference of the youngest brother], and all the men of Judah, the king's servants ["all the Judeans who were serving at court, as being members of his own tribe" (Keil). The fierce jealousy between Ephraim and Judah would almost compel the king to surround himself with soldiers and attendants of the latter tribe. Some of the invited guests, no doubt, like Absalom's two hundred, "went in their simplicity and knew not anything" ( 2 Samuel 15:11 ).