VOL. l1l.—■^6
There is no definite inform.ition given us as to how far or in wliat ways he was induenced by his mother ; but tiiere can be no reasonable doubt that her inlluence was considerable. To have retained the hold which she had upon David and the rank which she held among his wives, she must have been more than merely 'a very beautiful woman' (2 S 11). She must have been also a talented and sagacious one. That she was in close alliance with Nathan, that .•\dimijah sought her aid on his behalf in the belief that her son would refuse nothing that she asked, and that Solomon received her with the utmost reverence when she presented herself before him, are indications of fact which all point in one direction. We may accordingly infer that she had considerably contributed to the for- mation of Solomon's character.
4. Adur)ij<ik's rebellion. — There is very little further intormation given regarding Solomon pre- vious to his accession to the throne. The account in 1 Ch 22-'"' describes David's [ireparation for the building of the temple, and records his charges to Solomon and the princes. If it be in its proper place in the book — a point on which there is room lor ditierence of opinion — it clearly shows that Adonijah's rebellion was inexcusable. There is, however, nothing elsewhere to correspond to it, nor are there any means allbided us of verifying what needs verilication in it. The rebellion of Adonijaii was wliat necessitated the elevation of Solomon to the throne before his father's death. Adonijah was then, perhaps, his father's eldest son, and may natuially have considc^red himself to have had on that ground a preferential claim to the throne. There was at that time, however, no authoritative law or settled precedent to regu- late the succession.
.Adonijah tiimself docs not seem to have rested his claim on rij^lit or precedent, but on the goodwill of the pi-ople. 'Thou knowest,' he said to Batlishcba when obviousl.v trying' to ni.ike tile most of his owii eause, — ' thou knowest that the kin;,'(ioni was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that 1 sliuuld relj^n : howheit the kinj^doni is turned about, and is become my brother's: for it was his from the Lord* (1 K '.ilC). That is a very intelligible view, and all the more so that we know thn people of Israel in the time of David and Solomon vinqucstion- ably felt that they had some ri^'ht to consideration in the appointment of their kings. The Northern tribes unmistakably showed that when they rejected Solomon's only son. It i"a none the les.s very mislc-wling to speak of Adonijah as • the riirhtful heir' to the throne, as Stade and some other critics do. The 'rightful heir to the throne* in an absolute monarchy such as Israel had become under David, was the son nominated by the reiLTiing monarch. It has been so in all such monarchies ; and wherever polyfjamy has prevailed in these monarchies, yovniger sons have been often appointed to the exclusion of the eldest. The present Shah of Persia is an instance of 'a ri(;htful monarch,' altnou^'h he has an older and, it is said, exceptionally able brother. The appointment of the youngest son to the throne was very common in the despotisms of India.
Adonijah, it would seem, was ' a very goodly man,' captivating in his manners, fond of display and magnilicence, ambitious, and scheming. He made it (juite apjiarent that he wished to be kin'', assumed royal honours, and gained over to his side powerful allies, in Joab the general of the army, Abiathar the ]uiest, and the jirinces of the royal house. In a word, he beg.in to play the lAle of the ill-fated Absalom. The conspirators may possibly have deemed that his seniority of birtb or superiority of qualifications gave him a right tn reign. They may also have possibly deemeil that it was expedient for him to ascend the throne at once owing to David's budili' weakness. ]!ut I hey were certainly engaged in a real and formidahle consjiiracy kept secret from the king, and meant to .set him aside and to thwart his wishes. Their attemjit does not seem to have been either skil- fully i>laniied or strongly supported in pojiular feeling. The account given of it and of its failure in 1 K l'"*" distinctly convej's that impression.
562
SOLOMON
SOLOMOJN
As soon as divulged, the whole plot came to naught.*
5. Commencement of reign and first acts. — David Koou afterwards died, and .Solomon succeeded him without opposition. The year in which he hegan to reign has not been determined, nor are there yet known data for doing so exactly. He is said both in Kings and Chron. to have reigned forty years ; but that may be a round, not an exact, number. If exact, however, we may assign about B.C. 970 as the time at which he began to reign, since there are good reasons for considering B.C. 930 as about the first year of Jeroboam's reign — the year in which Solomon died.
The Jewish and Arabic tradition that Solomon was only twelve years old when he began to rei^, obviously orij^nated in misconception of the meaning of the words in 1 K 3' ' I am but a little child ; I know not how to go out or come in,' etc.; words not to be taken literally, but as a humble confession of inatlequacy, owing to youth and inexperience, for the great task of royalty. The generally received view that he was about twenty years old when he began to reign cannot be far amiss. According to Josephus, Solomon began to reign when le waAjourteen years of age ; but, in the same sentence he tells as he reigne<l eijhty years, and died at the a?e of ninety-four {Ant, vin. vii. 8). He does not mention the source of his information. t