Making Solomon King, Twice

In 1 Chronicles 29:22b-24, we read: “And they made Solomon the son of David King a second time…and all Israel listened to him. All the leaders and the mighty men as well as all the sons of King David his father, were subject to him.” A second time? Why had I never seen that before? The note in the OSB says that the two enthronements prefigure the two comings of Christ. What are these two enthronements?

The first enthronement is reported in 3 Kingdoms (aka 1 Kings) 1: 38-40. This enthronement follows the civil war incited by the rebellion of Absalom and David’s subsequent return to the throne, and takes place while another of David’s sons, Adonijah, is making a go for the kingdom. Adonijah gets Joab, the commander of the Army, and Abiathar the priest to conspire with him to throw a party (“sacrificed sheep, calves, and lambs by the stone of the Serpent” v. 9) and invites “all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah,” and together they proclaim him king (“’long live King Adonijah’” v.25).

A few are not invited to the party, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, David’s counselor and commander of the Cherethites and Pelethites (Philistine forces loyal to David) and Solomon. When David finds out about this, he sends Zadok the priest, Nathan and Benaiah along with the Cherethites and the Pelethites to anoint Solomon and proclaim him king. Zadok anoints Solomon at a spring named Gihon (just outside the eastern wall of Jerusalem) and they lead Solomon into the city riding on the king’s mule. The people of the city rejoice, but the kings sons (or “sons of the kingdom,” see Matthew 8:2) and most of the religious and political leaders are not there to see it. They are eating the feast of the false king, sacrificed at the Serpent’s stone (BTW, that is the only mention of such a place in the Bible). Missing the coronation of the real king, the guests of the false king have no recourse but to melt away in fear (v.49).

Like the first coming of Christ our Saviour, the king’s sons (the Jews) by in large missed it. The religious and political leaders, except for a few (Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea and others [see John 12:43]), missed out, beguiled by the serpent. Jesus is proclaimed God’s beloved Son at the water of the Jordon, and similarly Solomon is anointed at the spring of Gihon. And as the poor of the city of Jerusalem rejoiced when Solomon (riding on a mule) is proclaimed king, so the children and the poor rejoiced as the King of Glory enters Jerusalem, meek and riding on a donkey. Just as David was betrayed by close friends (Joab and Abiathar), so is Jesus betrayed by a disciple. Just as Solomon was proclaimed king by the foreigners (the Cherethites and Pelethites), so Christ’s first coming is proclaimed by the Gentiles.

The second time Solomon is made king is not recorded in the history of the books of the Kingdoms. It is recorded in the Chronicles which, while telling us that this is the second time Solomon is made king, do not mention the first time. The second time Solomon is made king is nothing like the first. It takes place just before King David’s death, in the context of passing on to Solomon the plans and all of the materials for the temple that David had planned to build for the Lord. The context (chs. 28 and 29) reads like the apocalyptic passages of Ezekiel and Revelation which talk of the heavenly temple. Huge amounts of gold and silver and precious stones of various colors and building materials of all kinds are mentioned. Details of rooms and serving utensils and of the Ark and of the cherubim and more gold and more silver are mentioned. It is in this “heavenly” setting that Solomon is made king a second time. Here “all the leaders and mighty men as well as the sons of King David his father are subject to him.” Here he receives “the glory of a king” (29:25).

When Christ comes again with glory, no one will be left out. Unlike the first coming in humility and hidden glory, the second coming will be such that no one can deny His lordship (“every knee will bow”). The heavens will open and the heavenly Temple will be manifest, the Bride of Christ, His Body, the Place where Christ dwells.