patience, blew a trumpet, and went off crying:  “We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse:  every man to his tents, O Israel.”  If these words had produced an echo among the central and northern tribes, a schism would have been inevitable:  some approved of them, while others took no action, and since Judah showed no disposition to put its military forces into movement, the king had once again to trust to Joab and the Philistine guards to repress the sedition.  Their appearance on the scene disconcerted the rebels, and Sheba retreated to the northern frontier without offering battle.  Perhaps he reckoned on the support of the Aramaeans.  He took shelter in the small stronghold of Abel of Bethmaacah, where he defended himself for some time; but just when the place was on the point of yielding, the inhabitants cut off Sheba’s head, and threw it to Joab from the wall.  His death brought the crisis to an end, and peace reigned in Israel.  Intrigues, however, began again more persistently than ever over the inheritance which the two slain princes had failed to obtain.  The eldest son of the king was now Adonijah, son of Haggith, but Bathsheba exercised an undisputed sway over her husband, and had prepared him to recognise in Solomon her son the heir to the throne.  She had secured, too, as his adherents several persons of influence, including Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah, the captain of the foreign guard.

Adonijah had on his side Abiathar the priest, Joab, and the people of Jerusalem, who had been captivated by his beauty and his regal display.  In the midst of these rivalries the king was daily becoming weaker:  he was now very old, and although he was covered with wrappings he could not maintain his animal heat.  A young girl was sought out for him to give him the needful warmth.  Abishag, a Shunammite, was secured for the purpose, but her beauty inspired Adonijah with such a violent passion that he decided to bring matters to a crisis.  He invited his brethren, with the exception of Solomon, to a banquet in the gardens which belonged to him in the south of Jerusalem, near the well of Eogel.  All his partisans were present, and, inspired by the good cheer, began to cry, “God save King Adonijah!” When Nathan informed Bathsheba of what was going on, she went in unto the king, who was being attended on by Abishag, complained to him of the weakness he was showing in regard to his eldest son, and besought him to designate his heir officially.  He collected together the soldiers, and charged them to take the young man Solomon with royal pomp from the hill of Sion to the source of the Gibon:  Nathan anointed his forehead with the sacred oil, and in the sight of all the people brought him to the palace, mounted on his father’s mule.  The blare of the coronation trumpets resounded in the ears of the conspirators, quickly followed by the tidings that Solomon had been hailed king over the whole of Israel:  they fled on all sides,