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1 Kings1:5–10

Adonijah Usurps the Kingdom

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1 Kings 1:5–10 — Adonijah Usurps the Kingdom. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

5

At that time Adonijah, David’s son by Haggith, began to exalt himself, saying, “I will be king!” And he acquired chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run ahead of him.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wa·’ă·ḏō·nî·yāh ḇen- ḥag·gîṯ miṯ·naś·śê lê·mōr ’ă·nî ’em·lōḵ way·ya·‘aś lōw re·ḵeḇ ū·p̄ā·rā·šîm wa·ḥă·miš·šîm ’îš rā·ṣîm lə·p̄ā·nāw

Word by word15 · parsed
וַאֲדֹנִיָּ֧הwa·’ă·ḏō·nî·yāhAt that time AdonijahH138
√ ʼĂdônîyâh — Adonijah, the name of three IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
בֶן־ḇen-[David’s] sonH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct
חַגִּ֛יתḥag·gîṯby HaggithH2294
√ Chaggîyth — Chaggith, a wife of DavidNounproperfeminine singular
מִתְנַשֵּׂ֥אmiṯ·naś·śêbegan to exalt himselfH5375
√ nâsâʼ — to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativeVerbHitpaelParticiplemasculine singular
nâsâʼ — to lift, bear, carry (Hitpael participle) The verb of lifting is ordinary; the stem is what indicts. A Hitpael makes the subject both the lifter and the thing lifted, and the participle holds the action open, so the clause reads as a settled habit rather than a moment of ambition. Elsewhere in Israel's story it is Jehovah who lifts up whom He chooses; here a man takes the verb into his own hands. Nothing is said of the Lord in verse 5 at all, which is itself the point.
לֵאמֹ֖רlê·mōrsayingH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
אֲנִ֣י’ă·nîIH589
√ ʼănîy — IPronounfirst person common singular
אֶמְלֹ֑ךְ’em·lōḵwill be kingH4427
√ mâlak — to reignVerbQalImperfectfirst person common singular
mâlak — to reign, be(come) king A common verb (284 verses), but its subject here is the scandal. K&D states the constitutional issue plainly: in Israel Jehovah reserved to Himself the choice of the earthly king (Deuteronomy 17:15). Adonijah conjugates in the first person a verb that in this covenant belongs to divine appointment.
וַיַּ֣עַשׂway·ya·‘aśAnd he acquiredH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
ל֗וֹlōw. . .
Prepositionthird person masculine singular
רֶ֚כֶבre·ḵeḇchariotsH7393
√ rekeb — a vehicleNounmasculine singular
rekeb — vehicle, chariotry K&D reads רֶכֶב collectively and insists it is not war chariots but state carriages, matching merkâbâh in 2 Samuel 15:1. The equipment is ceremonial, not military: Adonijah is staging a coronation, not mounting a campaign.
וּפָ֣רָשִׁ֔יםū·p̄ā·rā·šîmand horsemenH6571
√ pârâsh — a steed (as stretched out to a vehicle, not single nor for mounting )Conjunctive wawNounmasculine plural
pârâsh — steed / horseman The Pulpit Commentary argues for “horses” here on the strength of 1 Samuel 8:11; K&D takes them as riders forming an escort. Either way the word joins chariotry and runners in the list that 1 Samuel 8:11 names as the very first insignia of a king, the pattern Israel was warned about before it ever had a king.
וַחֲמִשִּׁ֥יםwa·ḥă·miš·šîmand fiftyH2572
√ chămishshîym — fiftyConjunctive wawNumbercommon plural
אִ֖ישׁ’îšmenH376
√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personNounmasculine singular
רָצִ֥יםrā·ṣîmto runH7323
√ rûwts — to run (for whatever reason, especially to rush)VerbQalParticiplemasculine plural
rûwts — to run, rush (Qal participle, plural) The participle keeps them running. Cambridge notes the same word is used at 1 Kings 14:27 of the guards who kept the door of the king's house, so these fifty are a standing body-guard, not a one-day parade. Absalom had exactly fifty (2 Samuel 15:1); the number is copied, not invented.
לְפָנָֽיו׃lə·p̄ā·nāwahead of himH6440
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Preposition-lNouncommon plural constructthird person masculine singular
Literally “to his faces,” the standard idiom for presence. Function word carrying the display.
6

(His father had never once reprimanded him by saying, “Why do you act this way?” Adonijah was also very handsome, born next after Absalom.)

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’ā·ḇîw wə·lō- mî·yā·māw ‘ă·ṣā·ḇōw lê·mōr mad·dū·a‘ ‘ā·śî·ṯā kā·ḵāh hū wə·ḡam- mə·’ōḏ wə·’ō·ṯōw ṭō·wḇ- tō·’ar yā·lə·ḏāh ’a·ḥă·rê ’aḇ·šā·lō·wm

Word by word17 · parsed
אָבִ֤יו’ā·ḇîwHis fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
וְלֹֽא־wə·lō-had neverH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle
The negative particle governs the whole clause; the weight sits on the verb it cancels.
מִיָּמָיו֙mî·yā·māw. . .H3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Preposition-mNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
עֲצָב֨וֹ‘ă·ṣā·ḇōwonce reprimanded himH6087
√ ʻâtsab — properly, to carve, iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine singular
ʻâtsab — to carve, and so to hurt, grieve, pain The choice of this verb is the narrator's verdict on David's fatherhood. Poole calls the omission “David's great error,” and measures it against Leviticus 19:17, where not rebuking a neighbour is itself the sin. Gill goes further and names David guilty of the same sin as Eli, whose sons were the last house to be removed from Israel's priesthood. The word the narrator avoids is discipline; the word he uses is pain, and it implies that love which never pains is not love enough to shape.
לֵאמֹ֔רlê·mōrby sayingH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
מַדּ֖וּעַmad·dū·a‘WhyH4069
√ maddûwaʻ — what (is) known?Interrogative
maddûwaʻ — why? (literally, what is known?) The unasked question. This is the ordinary Hebrew interrogative of accountability, and the verse is built to record its absence: the sentence David never spoke is quoted in full so that we can hear the silence exactly.
עָשִׂ֑יתָ‘ā·śî·ṯādo you actH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalPerfectsecond person masculine singular
כָּ֣כָהkā·ḵāhthis wayH3602
√ kâkâh — just so, referring to the previous or following contextAdverb
ה֤וּאhū[Adonijah was]H1931
√ hûwʼ — he (she or it)Pronounthird person masculine singular
The independent pronoun carries the shift to the second and third grounds of Adonijah's confidence. Poole weighs whether it looks back to David's indulgence or forward to Absalom, and prefers the former.
וְגַם־wə·ḡam-alsoH1571
√ gam — properly, assemblageConjunction
מְאֹ֔דmə·’ōḏveryH3966
√ mᵉʼôd — properly, vehemence, iAdverb
וְאֹת֥וֹwə·’ō·ṯōwH853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object markerthird person masculine singular
טֽוֹב־ṭō·wḇ-handsomeH2896
√ ṭôwb — good (as an adjective) in the widest senseAdjectivemasculine singular construct
ṭôwb — good, in the widest sense The adjective of Genesis 1 here measures a man's build. Scripture reports the kingly effect of such a figure without ever endorsing it as a qualification: Israel's first king stood head and shoulders above the people and lost the throne, and 1 Samuel 16:7 had already said the Lord does not see as man sees.
תֹּ֙אַר֙tō·’ar. . .H8389
√ tôʼar — outline, iNounmasculine singular
tôʼar — outline, form, figure A rare noun, and the standard Hebrew term for a person's physical form rather than the features of a face. The commentators uniformly read the compliment as political: Barnes says the Jews, like other nations of antiquity, regarded the physical qualities of rulers as of great importance and wished their kings to be remarkable for strength, stature and beauty, and Cambridge calls a fine and commanding figure no small recommendation for an aspirant to a throne. Josephus, cited in the Pulpit Commentary, adds his stature. The narrator lists it among the causes of the revolt, not among its justifications.
יָלְדָ֖הyā·lə·ḏāhbornH3205
√ yâlad — to bear youngVerbQalPerfectthird person feminine singular
אַחֲרֵ֥י’a·ḥă·rênext afterH310
√ ʼachar — properly, the hind partPreposition
אַבְשָׁלֽוֹם׃’aḇ·šā·lō·wmAbsalomH53
√ ʼĂbîyshâlôwm — Abshalom, a son of DavidNounpropermasculine singular
ʼĂbîyshâlôwm — Absalom The name is the argument. Placing Adonijah immediately after Absalom in birth order also places him immediately after Absalom in pattern: chariots, runners, beauty, an indulgent father, a sacrificial feast. The reader who remembers 2 Samuel 15 to 18 already knows how this ends.
7

So Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, who supported him.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yih·yū ḏə·ḇā·rāw ‘im yō·w·’āḇ ben- ṣə·rū·yāh wə·‘im ’eḇ·yā·ṯār hak·kō·hên way·ya‘·zə·rū ’a·ḥă·rê ’ă·ḏō·nî·yāh

Word by word12 · parsed
וַיִּהְי֣וּway·yih·yūSo [Adonijah]H1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
דְבָרָ֔יוḏə·ḇā·rāwconferredH1697
√ dâbâr — a wordNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
dâbâr — word, matter, affair Hebrew's broadest noun: word, thing, business. In the plural with ʻim it names the traffic of negotiation, and the narrator uses it instead of any verb of plotting. He reports a conversation and lets the guest list of verse 9 supply the verdict.
עִ֚ם‘imwithH5973
√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iPreposition
יוֹאָ֣בyō·w·’āḇJoabH3097
√ Yôwʼâb — Joab, the name of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
בֶּן־ben-sonH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct
צְרוּיָ֔הṣə·rū·yāhof ZeruiahH6870
√ Tsᵉrûwyâh — Tserujah, an IsraelitessNounpropermasculine singular
Tsᵉrûwyâh — Zeruiah Joab is named by his mother throughout Samuel and Kings. Cambridge notes she was David's sister, which makes the commander of the host the king's nephew: the revolt runs inside the family, not against it from outside.
וְעִ֖םwə·‘imand withH5973
√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iConjunctive wawPreposition
אֶבְיָתָ֣ר’eḇ·yā·ṯārAbiatharH54
√ ʼEbyâthâr — Ebjathar, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
הַכֹּהֵ֑ןhak·kō·hênthe priestH3548
√ kôhên — literally one officiating, a priestArticleNounmasculine singular
kôhên — one officiating, a priest The defection that startled the commentators. Abiathar had survived Nob and carried the ephod through David's exile; Pulpit weighs whether jealousy of Zadok explains it and whether Adonijah's “words” included a promise to restore the priesthood to his family alone. That last is stated in the commentary as conjecture, and the text does not confirm it.
וַֽיַּעְזְר֔וּway·ya‘·zə·rūwho supportedH5826
√ ʻâzar — to surround, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
ʻâzar — to surround, help, succour The verb of coming to someone's aid, most often used of the Lord helping His people. Here two of David's oldest servants spend it on a pretender. Benson's reading is blunt: they helped, probably not because they thought the right of the crown was his, but to oppose Solomon and secure their own interest.
אַחֲרֵ֖י’a·ḥă·rê. . .H310
√ ʼachar — properly, the hind partPreposition
The preposition that makes the helping a following; see the divergence.
אֲדֹנִיָּֽה׃’ă·ḏō·nî·yāh[him]H138
√ ʼĂdônîyâh — Adonijah, the name of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
8

But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and David’s mighty men would not join Adonijah.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·ṣā·ḏō·wq hak·kō·hên ū·ḇə·nā·yā·hū ḇen- yə·hō·w·yā·ḏā‘ wə·nā·ṯān han·nā·ḇî wə·šim·‘î wə·rê·‘î lə·ḏā·wiḏ wə·hag·gib·bō·w·rîm ’ă·šer lō hā·yū ‘im- ’ă·ḏō·nî·yā·hū

Word by word16 · parsed
וְצָד֣וֹקwə·ṣā·ḏō·wqBut ZadokH6659
√ Tsâdôwq — Tsadok, the name of eight or nine IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Tsâdôwq — Zadok The name is built on the root of righteousness. Cambridge records the outcome the verse is quietly setting up: through the events of this chapter Abiathar was thrust out to Anathoth and Zadok became sole high priest, which is how the line of Eleazar displaced the line of Ithamar.
הַ֠כֹּהֵןhak·kō·hênthe priestH3548
√ kôhên — literally one officiating, a priestArticleNounmasculine singular
וּבְנָיָ֨הוּū·ḇə·nā·yā·hūBenaiahH1141
√ Bᵉnâyâh — Benajah, the name of twelve IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Bᵉnâyâh — Benaiah Captain of the bodyguard (2 Samuel 8:18; 23:20-21). Ellicott notes his command made him second in importance only to Joab, and perhaps of greater importance for immediate action: whoever held the Cherethites and Pelethites held Jerusalem on the day itself.
בֶן־ḇen-sonH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct
יְהוֹיָדָ֜עyə·hō·w·yā·ḏā‘of JehoiadaH3077
√ Yᵉhôwyâdâʻ — Jehojada, the name of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
וְנָתָ֤ןwə·nā·ṯānNathanH5416
√ Nâthân — Nathan, the name of five IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
הַנָּבִיא֙han·nā·ḇîthe prophetH5030
√ nâbîyʼ — a prophet or (generally) inspired manArticleNounmasculine singular
nâbîyʼ — a prophet, an inspired man Nathan is the hinge of the whole succession. He announced the everlasting house to David (2 Samuel 7), he brought the rebuke and then the pardon after Bathsheba, and he named the child Jedidiah, beloved of the Lord (2 Samuel 12:25). His absence from Adonijah's list is not an oversight but an admission.
וְשִׁמְעִ֣יwə·šim·‘îShimeiH8096
√ Shimʻîy — Shimi, the name of twenty IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Shimʻîy — Shimei The identification is genuinely open. Ellicott and Barnes report Ewald's conjecture that Shimei and Rei were David's brothers Shimma and Raddai; K&D takes Shimei as the son of Elah of 1 Kings 4:18; Gill passes on Abarbinel's guess that he is Shimei son of Gera. Cambridge says plainly there is no means of deciding.
וְרֵעִ֔יwə·rê·‘îReiH7472
√ Rêʻîy — Rei, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Rêʻîy — Rei The name occurs here only in all Scripture. Cambridge: several conjectures have been made, none that deserves much attention. An honest blank in the record.
לְדָוִ֑דlə·ḏā·wiḏand David’sH1732
√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JessePreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular
וְהַגִּבּוֹרִ֖יםwə·hag·gib·bō·w·rîmmighty menH1368
√ gibbôwr — powerfulConjunctive waw, ArticleAdjectivemasculine plural
gibbôwr — powerful, mighty The corps whose refusal decided the thing militarily before a blow was struck. Adonijah could buy the commander of the host and still not buy the professional core of David's army, and Benson reads his failure even to approach them as an admission that he knew it.
אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
לֹ֥אlōwould notH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle
The negative that governs the whole roll. Six names and a corps, and one word cancels all of Adonijah's arithmetic.
הָי֖וּhā·yū. . .H1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural
עִם־‘im-joinH5973
√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iPreposition
אֲדֹנִיָּֽהוּ׃’ă·ḏō·nî·yā·hūAdonijahH138
√ ʼĂdônîyâh — Adonijah, the name of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
9

And Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened calves near the stone of Zoheleth, which is next to En-rogel. He invited all his royal brothers and all the men of Judah who were servants of the king.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’ă·ḏō·nî·yā·hū way·yiz·baḥ ṣōn ū·ḇā·qār ū·mə·rî ‘im ’e·ḇen haz·zō·ḥe·leṯ ’ă·šer- ’ê·ṣel ‘ên rō·ḡêl way·yiq·rā ’eṯ- kāl- ham·me·leḵ ’e·ḥāw bə·nê ū·lə·ḵāl- ’an·šê yə·hū·ḏāh ‘aḇ·ḏê ham·me·leḵ

Word by word23 · parsed
אֲדֹנִיָּ֗הוּ’ă·ḏō·nî·yā·hūAnd AdonijahH138
√ ʼĂdônîyâh — Adonijah, the name of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
וַיִּזְבַּ֣חway·yiz·baḥsacrificedH2076
√ zâbach — to slaughter an animal (usually in sacrifice)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
zâbach — to slaughter an animal, usually in sacrifice The verb makes the feast a religious act, and that is its danger. Barnes and Pulpit both compare Absalom's sacrifices at Hebron (2 Samuel 15:12), and Pulpit sharpens the point: religion was invoked here not merely to cloak the design but to cement the conspirators to one another. Sacrifice offered to bind men to a king the Lord has not chosen is the exact inversion of 1 Samuel 11:15, where Israel sacrificed before the Lord at the making of a king He had given.
צֹ֤אןṣōnsheepH6629
√ tsôʼn — a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats)Nouncommon singular
וּבָקָר֙ū·ḇā·qāroxenH1241
√ bâqâr — beef cattle or an animal of the ox family of either gender (as used for plowing)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine singular
וּמְרִ֔יאū·mə·rîand fattened calvesH4806
√ mᵉrîyʼ — stall-fedConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular
עִ֚ם‘imnearH5973
√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iPreposition
אֶ֣בֶן’e·ḇenthe stoneH68
√ ʼeben — a stoneNounfeminine singular construct
ʼeben — a stone Barnes observes that large blocks of stone in the East always attract attention and acquire names, and lines this one up with the memorial stones of Scripture (Genesis 28:22; Joshua 4:9; 1 Samuel 6:14). Those stones marked what God had done. This one marks what a man intends to do.
הַזֹּחֶ֔לֶתhaz·zō·ḥe·leṯof ZohelethH2120
√ Zôcheleth — Zocheleth, a boundary stone inNounproperfeminine singular
Zôcheleth — Zoheleth, a boundary stone The name occurs nowhere else in Scripture, and the derivation is disputed: Ellicott traces a root meaning to crawl or steal on, and reports renderings “stone of the serpents,” the Targum's “rolling stone,” and “stone of the conduit.” Gesenius, quoted by Pulpit, simply says “the serpent.” Rawlinson, quoted by both Barnes and Pulpit, says no satisfactory explanation has been given. Any reading that leans on the serpent sense is leaning on a contested etymology.
אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-whichH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
אֵ֖צֶל’ê·ṣelis next toH681
√ ʼêtsel — a sidePreposition
עֵ֣ין‘ênvvvH5883
√ ʻÊyn Rôgêl — En-Rogel, a place near Jerusalem
רֹגֵ֑לrō·ḡêlEn-rogelH5883
√ ʻÊyn Rôgêl — En-Rogel, a place near JerusalemNounproperfeminine singular
ʻÊyn Rôgêl — En-Rogel, a spring near Jerusalem A very rare name (4 verses), and every other occurrence is a border marker between Judah and Benjamin (Joshua 15:7; 18:16) or a place of secret intelligence in Absalom's revolt (2 Samuel 17:17). Ellicott notes it appears to be the only natural spring near Jerusalem. Adonijah holds his coronation at the city's edge, at the boundary and the hiding place, and not at Gihon, where verse 38 will take Solomon.
וַיִּקְרָ֗אway·yiq·rāHe invitedH7121
√ qârâʼ — to call out to (iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
qârâʼ — to call out, to call, to invite A summoning word that can mean to proclaim, to name, or to invite. Here it is the hinge of the plot: whom you call to the sacrifice is whom you count as your kingdom.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
כָּל־kāl-allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
הַמֶּ֔לֶךְham·me·leḵhis royalH4428
√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular
melek — king The word Adonijah cannot yet claim. It appears twice in this verse and both times it means David: they are the king's sons and the king's servants. The narrator will not attach the noun to Adonijah, though the whole scene is built to do so.
אֶחָיו֙’e·ḥāwbrothersH251
√ ʼâch — a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relationship and metaphorical affinity or resemblance (like father))Nounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
בְּנֵ֣יbə·nê. . .H1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
וּלְכָל־ū·lə·ḵāl-and allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive waw, Preposition-lNounmasculine singular construct
אַנְשֵׁ֥י’an·šêthe menH582
√ ʼĕnôwsh — a man in general (singly or collectively)Nounmasculine plural construct
יְהוּדָ֖הyə·hū·ḏāhof JudahH3063
√ Yᵉhûwdâh — Jehudah (or Judah), the name of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
עַבְדֵ֥י‘aḇ·ḏêwho were servantsH5650
√ ʻebed — a servantNounmasculine plural construct
ʻebed — a servant K&D takes the men of Judah, the king's servants, as those Judeans serving at court, that is, David's own tribesmen. The revolt is staffed from the house it means to displace.
הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ham·me·leḵof the kingH4428
√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular
10

But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the mighty men, or his brother Solomon.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·’eṯ- lō qā·rā nā·ṯān han·nā·ḇî ū·ḇə·nā·yā·hū wə·’eṯ- hag·gib·bō·w·rîm wə·’eṯ- ’ā·ḥîw šə·lō·mōh

Word by word11 · parsed
וְֽאֶת־wə·’eṯ-ButH853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
לֹ֥אlōhe did notH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle
קָרָֽא׃qā·rāinviteH7121
√ qârâʼ — to call out to (iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
qârâʼ — to call, invite (Qal perfect, negated) The perfect with the negative states a completed refusal, not a lapse. Set against verse 9, the two verses form one sentence of policy: the guest list is the claim. Every name here is a name that knows what God said through Nathan.
נָתָן֩nā·ṯānNathanH5416
√ Nâthân — Nathan, the name of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
הַנָּבִ֨יאhan·nā·ḇîthe prophetH5030
√ nâbîyʼ — a prophet or (generally) inspired manArticleNounmasculine singular
nâbîyʼ — a prophet Gill puts the logic bluntly: Nathan had prophesied Solomon's succession, so it could not be thought he would be drawn over. Excluding the prophet is the clearest evidence in the chapter that Adonijah knew the word of the Lord and proceeded anyway.
וּבְנָיָ֜הוּū·ḇə·nā·yā·hūBenaiahH1141
√ Bᵉnâyâh — Benajah, the name of twelve IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
הַגִּבּוֹרִ֛יםhag·gib·bō·w·rîmthe mighty menH1368
√ gibbôwr — powerfulArticleAdjectivemasculine plural
gibbôwr — mighty ones Named a second time in three verses. Their absence here is no longer neutral: in verse 8 they were not with him, and now he will not even call them.
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
אָחִ֖יו’ā·ḥîwor his brotherH251
√ ʼâch — a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relationship and metaphorical affinity or resemblance (like father))Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
ʼâch — a brother, in the widest sense The pivot of the verse. A man who has just feasted “all his brothers, the king's sons” omits one brother, and the omission tells the reader exactly which brother the kingdom belongs to. Cambridge and the Pulpit Commentary both conclude from this verse that Adonijah knew perfectly well that Solomon was his rival.
שְׁלֹמֹ֥הšə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010
√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular
Shᵉlômôh — Solomon, David's successor The name from shâlôm, peace, given to the son whom Nathan also named Jedidiah, beloved of the Lord (2 Samuel 12:25). Pulpit reads that name together with 2 Samuel 7:12 and 1 Chronicles 22:9-10 as proof that Adonijah could not have been ignorant of the choice. The uninvited guest is the chosen king.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The participle that never stops lifting — 1 Kings 1:5

The unit opens on a grammatical form rather than an event. מִתְנַשֵּׂא is a Hitpael participle of nâsâʼ, to lift: the lifter and the lifted are the same man, and the participle keeps him at it. ⚙ Then comes the doubled pronoun, אֲנִי אֶמְלֹךְ, “I, I will reign,” where Hebrew needs no pronoun at all. K&D answers this with the constitutional fact: in Israel Jehovah, the God-King of His people, had reserved to Himself the choice of the earthly king, citing Deuteronomy 17:15. Pulpit pushes back, granting that primogeniture, other things being equal, had considerable weight in practice, while conceding there was no formal right of primogeniture in the Hebrew monarchy. ⚙ The text does not adjudicate between them; what it does is refuse to mention the Lord in the verse at all. Ellicott hears an echo rather than an argument: the similarity between Adonijah and Absalom, in beauty, in a too-indulgent father, in ambition and trust in popularity, is evidently suggested by the narrative. Poole is sharper still, saying Adonijah made such ill use of Absalom's example that he committed the same wickedness and yet feared not the same disappointment and destruction.

ii. The question a father never asked — 1 Kings 1:6

The narrator does something unusual here: he quotes a sentence that was never spoken. מַדּוּעַ עָשִׂיתָ כָּכָה, “Why have you done thus?”, is set inside the negative so that we hear its absence. The verb is not “rebuke” but עֲצָבוֹ (ʻâtsab), whose root is to carve, and so to pain; the Pulpit Commentary glosses “or pained, afflicted,” and K&D renders מִיָּמָיו as a diebus ejus, his whole life long. ⚙ The charge is not that David was gentle but that he never once let a word cost his son anything, and a father who never carves never shapes. Poole calls it David's great error and measures it against Leviticus 19:17; Gill names it the same sin as Eli's, which in the books just behind this one cost a priestly house its standing. Benson adds the second ground of the revolt: his great comeliness made him amiable in the people's eyes. ⚙ Note what the narrator lists as causes here, indulgence and appearance, and what he never lists: any word from the Lord. Cambridge, on the text itself, flags that the Hebrew has only “and she bare,” his mother being supplied, the same ellipsis as Numbers 26:59.

iii. His words were with them, and they were not with him — 1 Kings 1:7-8

Two verses, one Hebrew hinge. Verse 7 says וַיִּהְיוּ דְבָרָיו עִם, his words were with Joab and Abiathar, an idiom both Pulpit and K&D trace to 2 Samuel 3:17, where Abner's words were with the elders on the eve of a transfer of the kingdom. Verse 8 ends לֹא הָיוּ עִם־אֲדֹנִיָּהוּ, they were not with Adonijah. ⚙ The same verb and the same preposition, once affirmed and once denied, divide the kingdom between two lists. On the defections themselves the commentators diverge honestly. Barnes accounts for Joab by his fear that Solomon would be a man of rest and by his preference for the character of Adonijah; Cambridge remembers that Joab held David's secret in the matter of Uriah and accordingly defied him when it suited his purpose; K&D rejects the view that Joab judged Adonijah's claim just, for the simple reason that Joab did not trouble himself about right. Ellicott offers the mildest explanation of all, that the attempt of Adonijah was not viewed as an actual rebellion, since Solomon was young and David's designation of him might be represented as the favouritism of dotage. For Abiathar, Pulpit and K&D both reach for jealousy of Zadok, and Pulpit goes further and guesses at a promised restoration of the priesthood to Abiathar's family; ⚙ that guess is not in the text and should be read as the conjecture it is. What is in the text is the roll of verse 8, and Ellicott identifies its last item as technical: the Gibborim, a picked body, the standing nucleus of the armies of Israel. Benson notes that Adonijah did not even try them.

iv. Sacrifice at the boundary stone, and one brother uncalled — 1 Kings 1:9-10

The verb of verse 9 is וַיִּזְבַּח (zâbach), and Cambridge insists it is the standing word for sacrificing, rendered “slay” elsewhere in Kings only where the act still partook of solemn sacrifice. Pulpit draws the consequence: religious festivity was the apparent object of the assembling, and religion was invoked not merely to cloak their designs but to cement them together. JFB reads it the other way, as purely political, to court popularity and secure a party. ⚙ The Hebrew verb favours Cambridge and Pulpit, and that is the graver reading: this is worship conscripted to crown a man God did not choose. The place is doubly marked. הַזֹּחֶלֶת occurs nowhere else, and its sense is genuinely unknown, Ellicott listing “stone of the serpents,” the Targum's “rolling stone,” and “stone of the conduit,” while Rawlinson, cited by Barnes and by Pulpit, says no satisfactory explanation has been given. עֵין רֹגֵל is scarcely less rare, and in its only other occurrences it is a tribal boundary (Joshua 15:7; 18:16) and the listening post of Absalom's revolt (2 Samuel 17:17). ⚙ Adonijah crowns himself at the border, and the narrator will set Solomon's anointing at Gihon, inside. Then verse 10 undoes verse 9 with one negated verb. He called all his brothers; he did not call Nathan, Benaiah, the mighty men, or Solomon אָחִיו, his brother. Pulpit says it is clear from this verse that Adonijah perfectly understood that he had in Solomon a rival; K&D says the omissions showed very clearly that Adonijah was informed of Solomon's election; Gill says Nathan had prophesied it, so it could not be thought he would be drawn over. ⚙ The guest list is a confession.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested against the text. Read these six verses as a single sentence about how a kingdom is obtained, and the grammar makes the argument before any commentator does. Verse 5 gives a reflexive verb: a man lifting himself. Verses 7 and 8 give a preposition used twice, with and not with, sorting Israel into those a man's words can move and those they cannot. Verses 9 and 10 give one verb, called, affirmed and then denied. Everything Adonijah does in the paragraph, he does to himself and for himself: he lifts himself, makes for himself, sacrifices, calls. What is never once recorded in these verses is anyone calling him. That is the silence the passage is built around, and it is the silence Deuteronomy 17:15 already filled from the other side: you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God shall choose. ⚙ The irony the narrator lets stand is that Adonijah performs the whole liturgy of accession, the retinue, the sacrifice, the shared table, the public proclamation, and it amounts to nothing, while the son who is at no table, has no chariots, and says no word in this unit is already named Jedidiah, beloved of the Lord. Something further follows, and it cuts nearer than Adonijah. David's failure in verse 6 is not cruelty but indulgence: he never once pained his son, never once asked why. Scripture will not let that pass as kindness. Hebrews 12 reasons from the same principle in the opposite direction, that the Father disciplines the son He receives. ⚙ If that is right, then the tenderness of God that hurts is of a different order from the tenderness of David that never did, and Adonijah standing at the boundary spring with fifty runners in front of him is what a life looks like when no one who loved it ever told it no.

Not a verse, a fallible reading offered for testing: Adonijah lifts himself, makes for himself, sacrifices and calls, and in six verses no one ever calls him.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

Haggith's son, on the record twice before he ever moves verbal / quotation: confirmed

The narrator introduces the usurper not by rank but by mother: אֲדֹנִיָּה בֶן־חַגִּית. The Verifier locates the same pairing at 2 Samuel 3:4, in the Hebron birth list, and again in the genealogy at 1 Chronicles 3:2, where Absalom stands beside him. ⚙ The point of the maternal tag is position in a birth order, and it is the whole of Adonijah's claim: Ellicott, Barnes, JFB, Gill, Cambridge, Pulpit and K&D all reconstruct the same argument from these lists, that with Amnon and Absalom dead and Chileab unheard of after infancy, Adonijah was the eldest surviving son. JFB adds the other half honestly: nothing is said as to the origin or rank of Haggith, so it is probable she was not distinguished by family descent. The genealogies supply the claim; they do not supply a right.

2 Samuel 3:4 · 1 Chronicles 3:2

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H2294 Chaggîyth (in 5 vv, rare) and H138 ʼĂdônîyâh (in 26 vv); 1 Chronicles 3:2 additionally shares H53 ʼĂbîyshâlôwm (in 92 vv). A rare proper-name pairing repeated verbatim across the birth lists, not a quotation of a saying.

En-Rogel: the border spring, the spies' spring, the pretender's spring verbal / quotation: confirmed

עֵין רֹגֵל appears in only four verses of Scripture, and this is one of them. In the other three it does the same two jobs: at Joshua 15:7 and Joshua 18:16 it is a survey point on the line between Judah and Benjamin, and at 2 Samuel 17:17 it is where Jonathan and Ahimaaz waited, unable to be seen entering the city, during Absalom's revolt. Ellicott notes it appears to be the only natural spring near Jerusalem, and that its proximity would be useful for the purposes of sacrifice; Cambridge and K&D place it southeast of the city at the junction of the valleys. ⚙ Put the three uses together and the setting is eloquent without a word of comment: Adonijah holds his coronation at a boundary marker that doubles as the standard hiding place of the last rebellion, while the anointing of Solomon in this same chapter will be staged at Gihon, within the city, in the open.

Joshua 15:7 · Joshua 18:16 · 2 Samuel 17:17

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H5883 ʻÊyn Rôgêl (in 4 vv). One of the rarest place names in the canon; all four occurrences are in view.

“I will be king” and the counter-question that answers it structural / thematic: confirmed

Adonijah's אֲנִי אֶמְלֹךְ does not go unanswered in the chapter. The Verifier marks the same root mâlak (H4427) recurring with his name at 1 Kings 1:11, where Nathan asks Bathsheba whether she has heard that Adonijah has become king; at 1 Kings 1:13, where the counter-move is David's sworn word that Solomon shall reign; and at 1 Kings 1:24, where Nathan asks the king to his face whether he has said Adonijah shall reign after him. ⚙ The verb travels from a first-person boast to a pair of questions, and in each question it is put back under someone else's authority: the king's oath, and behind that oath the word of the Lord through Nathan. mâlak is a common verb, so the link is tiered as pattern rather than as quotation.

1 Kings 1:11 · 1 Kings 1:13 · 1 Kings 1:24

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H4427 mâlak (in 284 vv, common) and H138 ʼĂdônîyâh (in 26 vv); at 1 Kings 1:13 also H4069 maddûwaʻ. Common verb, so pattern and not quotation.

The bill comes due: Adonijah, Abiathar and Joab in chapter 2 structural / thematic: confirmed

Every name that verse 7 records on Adonijah's side reappears under judgment one chapter later. The Verifier ties this unit to 1 Kings 2:13 (Adonijah son of Haggith coming to Bathsheba), 1 Kings 2:22 (Solomon reading the request for Abishag as a request for the kingdom, and naming Abiathar the priest and Joab in the same breath), and 1 Kings 2:28 (Joab fleeing to the horns of the altar because he had turned after Adonijah). Cambridge states the outcome for the priest: in consequence of the events described in this chapter Abiathar was thrust out of his office and banished to Anathoth, and Zadok became the sole high priest. ⚙ The feast at the stone of Zoheleth therefore functions in the narrative as a list of names to be settled, and Solomon settles it at an altar, which is where the false sacrifice of 1:9 finally leads.

1 Kings 2:13 · 1 Kings 2:22 · 1 Kings 2:28

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H138 ʼĂdônîyâh (in 26 vv), H2294 Chaggîyth (in 5 vv) at 2:13, H54 ʼEbyâthâr (in 28 vv) and H3097 Yôwʼâb (in 124 vv) at 2:22 and 2:28. Shared actors across a continuous narrative, not a quotation.

Chariots, horsemen, and fifty runners: the copied script structural / thematic: confirmed

Ellicott states it as fact of the narrative: the means Adonijah employed, the body-guard of fifty men and the maintenance of chariots and horsemen, are exactly imitated from the example of Absalom at 2 Samuel 15:1, and the festal sacrifice with the support of two leaders in peace and war recalls the same model. Poole, Gill, Benson, Cambridge, JFB and K&D all cite the same verse independently. Pulpit adds the older warrant: chariots, horses and outrunners are listed at 1 Samuel 8:11 as the very first of the king's insignia, and Deuteronomy 17:16 had warned Israel's kings against multiplying horses. ⚙ Honesty about the basis matters here. The Verifier did not return 2 Samuel 15:1 among its computed candidates for this unit, so this thread rests on the unanimous cross-reference of the commentators and on the shared vocabulary of royal display, not on a Verifier-computed lexeme match.

2 Samuel 15:1 · 1 Samuel 8:11 · Deuteronomy 17:16

basis: No Verifier-computed lexeme link was returned for these refs; recorded basis is the unanimous cross-reference of Ellicott, Poole, Gill, Benson, Cambridge, JFB and K&D to 2 Samuel 15:1, plus the shared motif of royal insignia named at 1 Samuel 8:11 and restricted at Deuteronomy 17:16. Motif, not quotation.

Shimei and Rei: two names, and the limits of what can be known flagged: verify source

Verse 8 lists וְשִׁמְעִי וְרֵעִי among the loyal, and the commentators cannot agree who they were. Ellicott reports Ewald's conjecture that these were two brothers of David, Shimma and Raddai of 1 Chronicles 2:13-14, and immediately objects that being older than David they would now be in extreme old age; Barnes passes the same conjecture on with more confidence; K&D prefers the Shimei son of Elah of 1 Kings 4:18 and simply marks Rei unknown; Gill relays Abarbinel's guess that Shimei is the son of Gera who cursed David, and that Rei is Hushai the Archite. Cambridge closes it: several conjectures have been made, but none that deserves much attention. ⚙ This thread is listed precisely because it cannot be confirmed. Rei occurs nowhere else in Scripture, and no lexical link ties this verse to any of the proposed identifications. The honest result is a gap in the record.

1 Chronicles 2:13 · 1 Kings 4:18

basis: No Verifier-computed shared lexeme; the proposed identifications are commentators' conjectures that contradict one another (Ewald and Barnes vs K&D vs Abarbinel via Gill), and Cambridge judges none of them sound. Listed as unresolved, not as a link.

The king chosen rather than self-lifted, from Deuteronomy to the annunciation typological

Behind this whole unit stands one statute and one promise. Deuteronomy 17:15 lays down that Israel shall set over itself the king whom the Lord its God shall choose, and K&D appeals to it directly against Adonijah, adding that the right of choice was exercised in the case of Saul, of David, and of Solomon. 2 Samuel 7:12-16 gives the promise of a seed and a throne established forever, and K&D notes carefully that it did not secure the throne to any son then living but to one who would come out of David's loins. Luke 1:32-33 announces the same throne to a son not yet born, and says the Lord God will give it to Him. ⚙ The link between the Hebrew and the Greek cannot be a shared lexeme and is not offered as one; it is the continuity of a single pattern, the throne as a gift conferred rather than a position seized, and it is the pattern Adonijah breaks in verse 5.

Deuteronomy 17:15 · 2 Samuel 7:12 · Luke 1:32

basis: Cross-Testament (Hebrew to Greek), so no shared Strong's number is possible and none is claimed. Basis is the continuity of the divine-election pattern, cited to this unit by K&D at Deuteronomy 17:15 and 2 Samuel 7:12-16; the extension to Luke 1:32-33 is this tool's reading. Ancient and widely held in substance.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The throne is given, never taken ancient/widely-held

The unit's whole indictment is grammatical: מִתְנַשֵּׂא, a man lifting himself, and אֲנִי אֶמְלֹךְ, a pronoun doubled for emphasis where Hebrew needed none. K&D sets the statute against it, that in Israel Jehovah the God-King reserved to Himself the choice of the earthly king, and that when He promised David an everlasting seed He did not secure the throne to any son then born. ⚙ Scripture's answer to the self-lifting king is a King who does the opposite. He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied Himself (Philippians 2:6-8), and the exaltation that follows is done to Him, not by Him: therefore God highly exalted Him. The contrast is not decorative. Adonijah's verb is reflexive; Christ's is passive, and the one who was lifted up was first lifted on a cross. Our Lord states the same division in John 5:43: another comes in his own name, and him you will receive.

Philippians 2:6-9 · John 5:43 · Deuteronomy 17:15

Jedidiah: the beloved son whom the Father names ancient/widely-held

Adonijah's advantages in this unit are seniority, a mother's position, and a good figure. Solomon, who appears only as the final uncalled name in verse 10, has one thing the narrator has already recorded elsewhere: the Lord loved him, and He sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet and named him Jedidiah, beloved of the Lord (2 Samuel 12:25). The Pulpit Commentary reads that name together with 2 Samuel 7:12 and 1 Chronicles 22:9-10 as proof that Adonijah cannot have been ignorant of God's choice. ⚙ The pattern of succession in the line of David is therefore not seniority but a word of love spoken over a son by the Father through a prophet, which is the form the Gospels report at the Jordan: this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Barnes notes that Nathan, privy to all David's plans, had no doubt fully approved the order of succession the king was known to intend; the prophet who names the beloved is the prophet who defeats the coup.

2 Samuel 12:25 · Matthew 3:17 · 1 Chronicles 22:9

The feast that left out the heir novel

Verse 9 calls all the king's sons; verse 10 does not call אָחִיו, his brother. The Hebrew builds the pair with one verb, qârâʼ, affirmed and then denied, and Cambridge glosses it as invitation. ⚙ This reading is offered as the tool's own and marked accordingly. The scene puts a sacrificial feast, a proclaimed king, and a company of brothers on one side, and the chosen heir outside the gathering on the other, and in doing so it prefigures the shape of the Gospels: He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him (John 1:11); the stone the builders rejected became the head of the corner (Psalm 118:22). The figure should not be pressed. Solomon is no sinless type, chapter 2 will show him settling accounts with a sword, and no commentator in this brief draws the parallel. What the text does establish, and what the apostolic reading later makes central, is that God's chosen king can be excluded by every visible authority in Israel at once and still be the king.

John 1:11 · Psalm 118:22 · Luke 20:17

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. Text. The Hebrew is stable here and no commentator in the brief reports a variant of substance. Two places involve supplied words rather than variants: at verse 6 the subject of יָלְדָה is unexpressed, and Cambridge, K&D and Pulpit all note that “his mother” is a translator's addition (Pulpit records Thenius's proposal to read a different verb form here and answers that there is no need for it); at verse 9 the interlinear splits עֵין רֹגֵל across two tokens, and the first carries only a placeholder gloss in the source.

What is genuinely unknown. The meaning of הַזֹּחֶלֶת is unsettled, and the readings on offer (serpent, rolling stone, conduit) rest on different derivations; Rawlinson's verdict that no satisfactory explanation has been given is quoted by both Barnes and Pulpit, and no note here should be read as settling it. The site of En-Rogel is disputed between the Fountain of the Virgin and the Well of Job, and Pulpit says frankly there is much to be said on either side. The identities of Shimei and Rei are unknown; Rei occurs nowhere else in Scripture.

What is inference, not text. That Chileab died young, that Adonijah was the eldest surviving son, and that he was between thirty-three and forty years old are all reconstructions from 2 Samuel 3:2-5 and 1 Chronicles 3:1-2, not statements of this passage. Abiathar's motive is nowhere given: jealousy of Zadok is the common conjecture (Barnes, JFB, Pulpit, Cambridge, K&D), and Pulpit's further suggestion that Adonijah promised to restore the priesthood to Abiathar's family exclusively is explicitly offered there as a question. Barnes and Pulpit take opposite views of which man was the real high priest, and both are inferences from other books.

Machine layer. Every parse, gloss and Strong's number above comes from the brief's interlinear; the thread bases are the Verifier's computed shared lexemes except where a badge says otherwise. The Absalom thread is explicitly marked as resting on commentators' cross-references rather than on a computed match. The christ section's third entry is marked novel because no voice in this brief draws it, and the sola reading is the tool's own fallible argument, offered to be tested against the text and not to be confused with either Scripture or the named commentary.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)