Bible Strands
1 Kings 1:5
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
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Study note
Setting — Adonijah, David’s son by Haggith, publicly declares his intention to seize the throne while David is aged and dependent on a young attendant. He makes this proclamation to secure royal succession before his father's death.
The words — The Hebrew מִתְנַשֵּׂא (mitnasse) literally means “was exalting himself,” describing Adonijah’s self-promotion. He follows this with אֶמְלֹךְ (emlokh), “I will become king,” stating his claim.
The thread — This appropriation of royal chariots and fifty runners directly parallels Absalom’s earlier bid for power (2 Samuel 15:1). The pattern of a son claiming authority without divine mandate echoes the stubborn pride condemned in Exodus 9:17.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that self-appointment to authority requires no divine approval to provoke division. It asks the reader to identify how human ambition replicates the very pride that fractures succession and invites judgment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 15:1 Some time later, Absalom provided for himself a chariot with horses and fifty men to run ahead of him.
- 2 Samuel 3:4 his fourth was Adonijah, the son of Haggith; his fifth was Shephatiah, the son of Abital;
- Exodus 9:17 Still, you lord it over My people and do not allow them to go.
- Deuteronomy 17:15 you are to appoint over yourselves the king whom the LORD your God shall choose. Appoint a king from among your brothers; you are not to set over yourselves a foreigner who is not one of your brothers.
- 1 Kings 1:11 Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, “Have you not heard that Adonijah son of Haggith has become king, and our lord David does not know it?
- 1 Kings 2:24 And now, as surely as the LORD lives—the One who established me, who set me on the throne of my father David, and who founded for me a dynasty as He promised—surely Adonijah shall be put to death today!”
- 1 Chronicles 28:5 And of all my sons—for the LORD has given me many sons—He has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.
- 1 Chronicles 29:1 Then King David said to the whole assembly, “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great because this palace is not for man, but for the LORD God.
- Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
- Proverbs 18:12 Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.