Solomon: Israel’s Wisest King (8): Adonijah’s Second Bid for the Crown (I Kings 2:13-25) by Rev. Angus Stewart
I. Adonijah’s Ungrateful Scheming
II. Bathsheba’s Naïve Intercession
III. Solomon’s Wise Justice
Psalm singing: 96:6-11; 149:5-9; 19:7-11; 75:3-10
Scripture reading: I Kings 2:10-25
Alfred Edersheim on I Kings 2: “It seems that Adonijah, although obliged to submit to Solomon’s rule, had not given up all hope of his own ultimate accession. The scheme which he conceived for this purpose lacked, indeed, the courage of open rebellion, but was characterised by the cunning and trickery of a genuine Oriental intrigue. To marry any of the late king’s wives or concubines was considered in the East as publicly claiming his rights (2 Sam. 12:8; 16:21, 22). If such were done by a rival, it would be regarded as implying an insult to which not even the weakest monarch could submit without hopelessly degrading his authority in public opinion (2 Sam. 3:7). If Adonijah’s primary object was to lower Solomon in public estimate, and that in a manner which he could neither resist nor resent, no better scheme could have been devised than that of his application for the hand of Abishag. By combined flattery and parade of his suppose wrongs and injuries, he gained the queen-mother as unconscious accomplice and even instrument of his intrigue. Any scruples might be set aside by the plea, that there could be no wrong in his request, since, in the strict sense, Abishag had neither been the wife nor the concubine of David. To punish with death so cunning and mean an intrigue can scarcely be called excessive severity on the part of Solomon. It was rather a measure necessary, if tranquillity was to be preserved in the land, all the more that, by his own admission, Adonijah still entertained the opinion that rightfully the kingdom was his, and that ‘all Israel set their faces on him that he should reign’ (1 Kings 2:15).”
Philip Ryken: “This may seem like a small request. Adonijah was willing to give up the entire kingdom and even to acknowledge that Solomon’s kingship was God’s will. All he wanted was Abishag’s hand in marriage. But notice what a huge sense of entitlement Adonijah still had. He was angry that life had not met his expectations. ‘The kingdom was mine,’ he said, ‘and you know it!’ Even when he acknowledged Solomon’s kingship as the Lord’s doing, we can sense how bitterly he resented it. Adonijah wanted people to feel sorry for him and to give him a consolation prize. Solomon had already shown him mercy by sparing his life. But mercy was not enough for Adonijah. His whole request was based on the premise that he had something more coming to him. He had lost the kingdom—fair enough—but what was in it for him? He demanded some sort of compensation. How easy it is for us to take the same attitude when the disappointments of life get in the way of our plans for our kingdom! We suffer a financial setback, or a medical hardship, or a failed relationship. Then, rather than believing that the mercy of Jesus is enough for us and trusting our King to know what he is doing, we demand something to make up for what we have lost. ‘I deserve this,’ we say and then we take something for ourselves that God does not want us to have—some sinful pleasure, perhaps, or some shiny new product. Rather than letting go of what we want so that we can have what God wants to give us, we find a way to take what we want for ourselves” (King Solomon: The Temptations of Money, Sex, and Power, pp. 31-32).