1 Kings 1:33 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Take with you the servants of your lord His constant guards, the Cherethites and Pelethites, 1 Kings 1:38. Cause Solomon to ride upon mine own mule As a token that the royal dignity is transferred upon him, and that by my consent. The rest of David's sons were wont to ride upon mules when they went abroad, 2 Samuel 13:29. And Absalom rode on a mule when he was hanged in the oak. But David had a mule peculiarly reserved for himself alone; on which Solomon's being set, was considered as the beginning of his kingly power, no private person whatsoever being permitted to ride upon the king's mule. “It was capital,” says Maimonides, “to ride on the king's ass or mule, to sit upon his throne, or to handle his sceptre without his order.” On the contrary, it appears from the story of Mordecai, (Esther 6.,) that to have the honour to ride on the king's beast by his appointment, was accounted the highest dignity among the Persians. Bring him down to Gihon A little river or brook near Jerusalem, on the west side, which discharged itself into the brook Kidron, and in the Chaldee is called by its modern name, Siloa. If we may credit Maimonides, and other rabbis, the kings of the house of David were all obliged, to be anointed by the side of a fountain or river; which, they say, was the reason why David commanded his servants to bring his son down to Gihon, and anoint him there. Such a situation for anointing their kings, the Jews say, was chosen to show the perpetuity of their kingdom, because rivers run always, though the cities which they wash are continually decaying, and liable to destruction. But it is much more probable that this place was fixed on, because it was near Jerusalem, and a place of great resort, and capable of containing and displaying that numerous company, which David knew would follow Solomon thither. And being on the west side of the city, it was remote from Adonijah, who was inaugurated on the east side, and from his company, and therefore the people could assemble here without fear of tumults or bloodshed.