1 Kings

Chapters

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4
5. 5
6. 6
7. 7
8. 8
9. 9
10. 10
11. 11
12. 12
13. 13
14. 14
15. 15
16. 16
17. 17
18. 18
19. 19
20. 20
21. 21
22. 22

In the maps

• 1 Kings 1:16

  While David lives, Bathsheba bows to him and calls him 'my lord.' Pitre sets this beside 1 Kings 2:19, where, once her son Solomon is king, the roles reverse and the king bows to her and enthrones her (p 69). The contrast proves that the queen of the Davidic kingdom is the king's mother, not his wife: Bathsheba becomes queen only when her son reigns.

• 1 Kings 2:17

  Adonijah asks Bathsheba to carry his request to King Solomon because, as queen mother, she will not be refused. Pitre points to this as the Old Testament root of asking Mary's intercession: subjects bring petitions to the king through his mother. (Solomon in fact refuses this particular request because it is a veiled bid for the throne; the point is the recognised office of intercessor, not the outcome of this one plea.)

• 1 Kings 2:19

  Solomon rises to meet his mother, bows to her, enthrones her at his right hand, and promises not to refuse her request. Pitre treats this as the definitive portrait of the gebirah, the queen mother of the Davidic kingdom: honoured by the king, enthroned beside him, and acting as intercessor for the people. Mary, mother of the Davidic Messiah, holds this office in the kingdom of her Son.

• 1 Kings 8:10

  At Solomon's dedication the priests carry the Ark into the Holy of Holies, and only then does the cloud descend and the glory of the LORD fill the house. Pitre draws the rule from this (p 49): where the Ark goes, the presence of God goes, because of the glory cloud. It is the premise of the Annunciation argument — when the cloud overshadows Mary, the Ark has returned.

• 1 Kings 15:1

  When Abijam becomes king, the text records his mother's name, as it does for almost every king of Judah (1 Kings 14:21; 2 Kings 8:26; 12:1; 14:2; 15:2, 33; 18:2; 21:1, 19; 22:1; 23:31, 36; 24:8, 18). Pitre uses this pattern for two arguments: the queen mother was a recognised office, and the naming of Mary at the end of Matthew's royal genealogy (1:16) follows the same formula — the mother of the king is named because she is the queen mother (pp 69, 75).

• 1 Kings 15:13

  King Asa removes his mother Maachah 'from being queen' because of her idolatry. Pitre uses this to show that the queen mother was a real, formal office in Judah — one that could be held and lost — not a courtesy title. The books of Kings name the mother of almost every king of Judah precisely because the gebirah mattered to the kingdom.