The Grammar of the Kingdom: Enthroned with Gladness Text: 1 Chronicles 29:21-25
Introduction: The Covenant in Motion
We come today to a hinge point in the history of redemption. David, the man after God’s own heart, the sweet psalmist of Israel, is at the end of his days. The kingdom is being transferred. But this is no mere political succession, no simple handing over of a crown from one man to another. This is a covenantal moment, thick with theological gravity. What happens here with David and Solomon is a picture, a type, a shadow of a far greater transition and a far greater kingdom. If we read this as a simple palace report, we will miss the music entirely.
The modern world, and sadly much of the modern church, has lost the biblical instinct for typology. We read the Old Testament as a collection of moralistic fables or as a dry run for the main event in the New. But the Old Testament is not the junior varsity squad. It is the same story, the same covenant of grace, unfolding in shadows and symbols. What we see here is the grammar of God’s kingdom being written into the history of Israel. It is the story of how God establishes His rule on earth. And it is a story that is saturated with blood, food, joy, and unequivocal submission.
Our passage describes the confirmation of Solomon as king. But look at the elements. It begins with a massive, bloody sacrifice. It moves to a great, joyous feast. It culminates in the anointing and enthronement of the king and priest, the establishment of a dual authority under God. And it concludes with the willing, total submission of all the leaders of the nation to their new king, resulting in God’s magnificent exaltation of that king. This is not a haphazard sequence of events. This is the pattern. Sacrifice, feasting, anointing, submission, and exaltation. This is how God builds His kingdom, and it is how He is building it still, through the greater Solomon, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We live in an age that despises every single one of these elements. It despises blood sacrifice, calling it primitive. It scoffs at joyous feasting before a holy God, preferring either dour legalism or flippant irreverence. It rejects the idea of anointed authority, whether of king or priest, championing instead the autonomous self. It chokes on the concept of glad-hearted submission, calling it oppression. And consequently, it knows nothing of true, God-given exaltation, settling instead for the fleeting, tawdry fame of this world. This passage, then, is a direct assault on the spirit of our age. It is a summons to remember the grammar of the kingdom.
The Text
And on the next day they made sacrifices to Yahweh and offered burnt offerings to Yahweh, 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs, with their drink offerings and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. So they ate and drank that day before Yahweh with great gladness. And they made Solomon the son of David king a second time, and they anointed him as ruler for Yahweh and Zadok as priest. Then Solomon sat on the throne of Yahweh as king instead of David his father; and he succeeded, and all Israel obeyed him. And all the officials, the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David pledged allegiance to King Solomon. And Yahweh highly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel, and granted to him royal majesty which had not been on any king before him in Israel.
(1 Chronicles 29:21-25 LSB)
Sacrifice and Gladness (v. 21-22a)
The first thing we must notice is that this great national celebration is founded upon a mountain of dead animals.
"And on the next day they made sacrifices to Yahweh and offered burnt offerings to Yahweh, 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs, with their drink offerings and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. So they ate and drank that day before Yahweh with great gladness." (1 Chronicles 29:21-22a)
The sheer scale of this is staggering. Three thousand animals, plus their drink offerings, plus other sacrifices "in abundance." This is not a token gesture. This is a national confession. Before there can be a coronation, there must be an atonement. Before there can be feasting, there must be blood. The burnt offerings were wholly consumed on the altar, a picture of total consecration and dedication to God. But the other sacrifices, the peace offerings, were shared. A portion was burned for God, a portion went to the priests, and the rest was eaten by the people. This is covenant fellowship.
This is the logic of the gospel. Access to God, fellowship with God, is only possible through a substitutionary death. "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission" (Heb. 9:22). Our secular age finds this barbaric. But what is truly barbaric is the notion that sinful men can simply waltz into the presence of a holy God on their own terms, without a mediator, without an atonement. That is the height of arrogance. The Israelites understood this. Their joy was not a cheap, sentimental happiness. It was a blood-bought gladness. They "ate and drank that day before Yahweh with great gladness" precisely because the sacrifices had been made. The barrier of sin had been dealt with, and they could now feast in the presence of their King.
This is a picture of our worship. We come before God with great gladness only because the ultimate sacrifice has been made. Jesus Christ is our 1,000 bulls, our 1,000 rams, our 1,000 lambs. He is the sacrifice in abundance for all the true Israel of God. And our communion table is the feast that follows the sacrifice. We eat and drink before Yahweh with a gladness that is deeper and truer than anything Israel could have known, because our sacrifice was not a shadow, but the reality itself. To try and have Christian joy without the bloody cross is to try and have a feast without a sacrifice. It is a hollow party, a clanging cymbal.
King and Priest Anointed (v. 22b)
With the foundation of sacrifice laid, the leadership is formally established.
"And they made Solomon the son of David king a second time, and they anointed him as ruler for Yahweh and Zadok as priest." (1 Chronicles 29:22b)
This was Solomon’s second anointing. The first was a rushed, emergency affair to head off the attempted coup by his brother Adonijah (1 Kings 1). This second anointing is the formal, public, national confirmation. It is done in the context of worship, sacrifice, and feasting. True authority is established before God and with the glad consent of the people.
But notice the dual anointing. Solomon is anointed "as ruler for Yahweh," and Zadok is anointed "as priest." The kingdom has two heads, the civil and the ecclesiastical. The king wields the sword; the priest ministers at the altar. Both are anointed, meaning both are set apart by God for their office. Both are "for Yahweh." This is the biblical pattern of sphere sovereignty. The state is not the church, and the church is not the state. But both are under God. Both derive their authority from Him and are accountable to Him. When one sphere tries to usurp the authority of the other, tyranny or chaos is the inevitable result. Zadok represents the faithful priestly line, replacing Abiathar who had backed Adonijah's rebellion. Loyalty to God's covenant is the prerequisite for spiritual office.
This dual authority points forward to the one who would perfectly unite both offices in Himself. The Old Testament kings could not be priests, and the priests could not be kings. King Uzziah was struck with leprosy for daring to offer incense in the temple (2 Chron. 26). But the Messiah would be a king after the order of Melchizedek, who was both king of Salem and priest of the Most High God (Psalm 110:4). Jesus Christ is our great high priest, who offered Himself as the sacrifice, and He is the anointed king, who rules from the throne of heaven.
The Throne of Yahweh (v. 23)
The description of Solomon's ascension is theologically breathtaking.
"Then Solomon sat on the throne of Yahweh as king instead of David his father; and he succeeded, and all Israel obeyed him." (1 Chronicles 29:23)
This is a staggering statement. Solomon did not sit on the throne of Israel, or the throne of Judah, or even the throne of David, though all those things were true. He sat on the "throne of Yahweh." The earthly kingdom of David was a visible manifestation, a colony, of the heavenly kingdom of God. The king was God's vice-regent. His rule was to be a reflection of God's rule. His justice was to be a mirror of God's justice. This is the foundation of all Christian political theology. Earthly rulers are God's deacons (Romans 13:4), and their thrones are, in a very real sense, God's thrones. They are stewards of an authority that is not their own.
This is why rebellion against a lawful king was rebellion against God. And this is why a wicked king, one who used the throne of Yahweh to perpetrate injustice, was committing a profound blasphemy. He was misrepresenting the very character of God. The success of Solomon's reign is tied directly to this reality. He "succeeded, and all Israel obeyed him." When the king occupies his God-given place, and the people render their God-commanded obedience, the result is prosperity and success. This is the covenantal principle of order. God blesses submission to His ordained structures of authority.
Unqualified Allegiance (v. 24)
The response of the nation’s leaders is crucial. Their submission is total and public.
"And all the officials, the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David pledged allegiance to King Solomon." (1 Chronicles 29:24)
This was the critical moment. A transfer of power is always a volatile time. The "officials" and the "mighty men" were the power brokers, the men with swords and influence. But most significantly, "all the sons of King David" also pledged their allegiance. These were Solomon's rivals, the men who had a plausible claim to the throne themselves. Their submission was essential for the peace and stability of the kingdom. They "pledged allegiance," which literally in the Hebrew is "gave the hand under King Solomon." It was a formal, binding oath of fealty.
This is the posture that is required before the true King, the Lord Jesus. There can be no divided loyalties, no holding back. All our rival kings, our ambitions, our pride, our self-will, all the other "sons of David" in our hearts, must bow the knee. The mighty men of our own strength and the officials of our own self-government must give the hand to King Jesus. Until this happens, there is no peace in the kingdom of our souls. We are in a state of civil war. True success and prosperity in the Christian life begin with this kind of unqualified allegiance.
Divine Exaltation (v. 25)
"And Yahweh highly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel, and granted to him royal majesty which had not been on any king before him in Israel." (1 Chronicles 29:25)
The conclusion of the matter is that Solomon's exaltation was not his own doing. It was God's doing. "Yahweh highly exalted Solomon." This is the divine principle that runs through all of Scripture. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you" (1 Peter 5:6). Solomon is established on the throne, the people submit to him, and then God pours out the blessing. The majesty, the splendor, the glory of Solomon's reign was a gift from God.
This points us directly to the greater Solomon. The Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus, "though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant... And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name" (Philippians 2:6-9). The pattern is the same. Submission and obedience precede exaltation. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of this. His royal majesty is greater than Solomon's, not just because His kingdom is spiritual, but because His kingdom will one day fill the entire earth with a glory that will make Solomon's look like a child's toy.
Conclusion: Your Place in the Kingdom
So what does this ancient coronation have to do with us? Everything. The grammar of the kingdom has not changed. The pattern remains the same. First, you must begin with the sacrifice. You cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you come by way of the cross of Jesus Christ. You must acknowledge that your sin requires a bloody atonement, and you must trust that His death was sufficient for you. There is no other way in.
Second, having come by the sacrifice, you are invited to the feast. The Christian life is not a funeral march. It is a festival. It is to be lived with "great gladness" before the Lord. This is a joy rooted in forgiveness, a celebration of grace. If your Christianity is a joyless affair, it is because you have forgotten the magnitude of the sacrifice made for you.
Third, you must submit to the anointed King and Priest. Jesus Christ rules and He intercedes. You must bow to His authority as King, obeying His commands. And you must trust in His ministry as Priest, relying on His finished work. You cannot have Him as Priest if you will not have Him as King. You cannot have the benefits of His sacrifice if you reject the demands of His rule.
This means, fourth, that you must pledge unqualified allegiance. All your other loyalties, all your other claims to the throne of your own life, must be surrendered. All the mighty men of your own abilities and all the sons of David in your own ambitions must give the hand to King Jesus. And when you do this, when you humble yourself under His mighty hand, the promise is that in due time, He will exalt you. He will bestow upon you a majesty that is not your own, a share in His inheritance, a place at His table in the kingdom that will have no end. This is the grammar of the kingdom. Learn it, live it, and rejoice in it.