Scholar have treated the story of the succession of Solomon to the throne of David exhaustively over the years that one is not sure whether a new thing can be said about it. However, when we look at the various monographs on the story a couple of problems in them remain unsolved. For example, the idea that Solomon attained the throne because his mother was the most loved wife of David does not have any foundation in the biblical text.¹ To solve this and other problems in the narrative, I propose to use findings from anthropology to illuminate the problems involved in the transfer of power from David to Solomon. The anthropological data, taken from parts of Africa, suggest some solutions to the unresolved problems in the story of the succession of Solomon to the throne of David in Jerusalem. I propose a dialogue between anthropology and the biblical material.