How did Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan help Solomon become king?

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Peter Paul Rubens: The Judgment of Solomon — Solomon *The Judgment of Solomon*, oil on canvas by Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1617; in the Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery of Denmark), Copenhagen.

As King David neared the end of his life, a struggle for the throne emerged between his eldest living son, Adonijah, and Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba.1

To secure the succession for Solomon, the prophet Nathan orchestrated a political strategy. Nathan instructed Bathsheba to approach the aging King David to remind him of his previous promise that Solomon would be his successor and to urge him to formally proclaim Solomon as the next monarch.21

Following this counsel, Bathsheba successfully persuaded David to act. Consequently, David appointed Solomon as his heir, and Nathan the prophet, alongside the priest Zadok, anointed Solomon as king in Gihon. This intervention effectively blocked Adonijah’s attempt to seize control of the kingdom.31