1Ki 1:5
Adonijah seized the opportunity of David’s decrepitude to make himself king. Although he was David’s fourth son (2Sa 3:4), yet after the death of Ammon and Absalom he was probably the eldest, as Chileab, David’s second son, had most likely died when a child, since he is never mentioned again. Adonijah therefore thought that he had a claim to the throne (cf. 1Ki 2:15), and wanted to secure it before his father’s death. But in Israel, Jehovah, the God-King of His people, had reserved to Himself the choice of the earthly king (Deu 17:15), and this right He exercised not only in the case of Saul and David, but in that of Solomon also. When He gave to David the promise that his seed should rule for ever (2Sa 7:12-16), He did not ensure the establishment of the throne to any one of his existing sons, but to him that would come out of his loins (i.e., to Solomon, who was not yet born); and after his birth He designated him through the prophet Nathan as the beloved of Jehovah (2Sa 12:24-25). David discerned from this that the Lord had chosen Solomon to be his successor, and he gave to Bathsheba a promise on oath that Solomon should sit upon the throne (1Ki 1:13 and 1Ki 1:30). This promise was also acknowledged in the presence of Nathan (1Ki 1:11.), and certainly came to Adonijah’s ears. Adonijah said, “I will be king,” and procured chariots and horsemen and fifty runners, as Absalom had done before (2Sa 15:1). רכב, in a collective sense, does not mean fighting or war chariots, but state carriages, like מרכּבה in 2Sa 15:1; and פּרשׁים are neither riding nor carriage horses, but riders to form an escort whenever he drove out.