1 Kings 1:42
The good news Adonijah expected
- The gospel’s word בָּשַׂר basar · to bear tidings
Original
Translations
As he was speaking, suddenly Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest arrived. “Come in,” said Adonijah, “for you are a man of valor. You must be bringing good news.”
And while he yet spake, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came: and Adonijah said unto him, Come in; for thou art a valiant man, and bringest good tidings.
He is yet speaking, and behold, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest has come in, and Adonijah says, “Come in, for you [are] a man of valor, and you bear good tidings.”
말할 때에 제사장 아비아달의 아들 요나단이 오는지라 아도니야가 가로되 들어오라 너는 용사라 아름다운 소식을 가져오는도다
아직 그가 말할 때에, 보라, 제사장 아비아달의 아들 요나단이 오므로 아도니야가 그에게 이르되, 들어오라. 너는 용맹한 자라 좋은 소식을 가져오는도다, 하매
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on 1Kgs 1:32-53 as a whole
The people expressed great joy and satisfaction in the elevation of Solomon. Every true Israelite rejoices in the exaltation of the Son of David. Combinations formed upon evil principles will soon be dissolved, when self-interest calls another way. …
Read the whole commentary →
Note
The ram's horn and the roar of the city reach Adonijah's feast, and as Jonathan comes in, Adonijah greets him: "Come in … for you are a man of valor. You must be bringing good news" (1 Kings 1:42). What Jonathan brought was the worst news Adonijah could have heard.
As David grew old, his son Adonijah "began to exalt himself, saying, 'I will be king!'" (1 Kings 1:5). With Joab and Abiathar the priest on his side, he offered sacrifices and held a feast by En-rogel (1 Kings 1:7–9). Nathan the prophet and Bathsheba brought the matter to David, and David sent Solomon down to Gihon, where Zadok the priest anointed him; the people rejoiced "with such a great joy that the earth was split by the sound" (1 Kings 1:40). That sound reached the feast, and Jonathan son of Abiathar arrived. He had been one of David's runners in Absalom's revolt, together with Ahimaaz (2 Samuel 17:17).
Adonijah's last words are, in Hebrew, tov tevaser: "good you bring as news." The verb is the piel imperfect, second person masculine singular, of , with good as its object. Adonijah judges the news by the man. Jonathan is an ish chayil, a man of valor, someone of worth; surely he comes with good news. It is exactly the reasoning David used of Ahimaaz at the gate (2 Samuel 18:27). But Jonathan's answer is that "Our lord King David has made Solomon king" (1 Kings 1:43). The guests scatter in terror, and Adonijah runs to take hold of the horns of the altar (1 Kings 1:49–50).
The translations catch Adonijah's tone in different ways. The KJV makes it a statement, "thou art a valiant man, and bringest good tidings," and the LSV does the same. The BSB turns it into a hopeful guess: "You must be bringing good news." In Korean, the 흠정역 says 좋은 소식, good news, while the 개역한글 says 아름다운 소식, beautiful news. Because the 개역한글 uses the same phrase for the news brought to Zion in Isaiah 40:9, and calls the herald's feet beautiful in Isaiah 52:7 and Romans 10:15, its rendering here sounds in Korean ears like the language of the gospel, which makes Adonijah's mistake all the sharper.
Matthew Henry asks the question the scene raises: "How can those who do evil deeds expect to have good tidings?" Matthew Henry Then he looks past Solomon: "We see here, as in a glass, Jesus, the Son of David and the Son of God, exalted to the throne of glory, notwithstanding all his enemies" Matthew Henry.
The gospel, too, is the news that a Son of David has been made king. Paul says that God's gospel concerns his Son, "who was a descendant of David according to the flesh" (Romans 1:3) and was declared the Son of God with power by his resurrection. For Adonijah the news of the new king meant fear, and he knew nothing to do but cling to the altar. The gospel differs in this: it comes to those who stood against the King with an appeal for peace. Paul calls himself an ambassador for Christ and writes, "We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20).