The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 8, Solomon's Half-Brother Adonijah Hatches Another Plot Against The Throne

If we thought we'd heard the last of the treasonous Adonijah, we were wrong. When David ordered Solomon anointed as king, Adonijah had no choice but to temporarily abandon his attempts to gain the throne. Adonijah bowed to his brother as his king while David still lived. But David, Solomon's strongest supporter and protector, is dead and buried now. It becomes clear to us in today's study that Adonijah has only been pretending to accept the kingship of Solomon. He still considers himself the best candidate and the most legitimate candidate. He assumes a large number of the citizens of Israel feel the same way. Ancient Israel was not a democracy but in Adonijah's mind he would win the majority of the votes if an election were held to choose between himself and Solomon. 

In order to further reinforce his claim to the throne, he announces his desire to be married to one of his late father's wives. As we've discussed before, in ancient times if a man took his father's wife or wives (whether his father was living or dead) symbolized taking his father's place in every way. You'll recall that Absalom slept with ten of David's concubines as a way of making the political statement that he intended to take his father's place on the throne of Israel. 

Adonijah doesn't come to Solomon to ask for one of David's wives. He goes instead to the queen mother to garner her support and to get her to ask Solomon for him. "Now Adonijah, the son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. Bathsheba asked him, 'Do you come peacefully?' He answered, 'Yes, peacefully.' Then he added, 'I have something to say to you.' 'You may say it,' she replied. 'As you know,' he said, 'the kingdom was mine. All Israel looked to me as their king. But things changed, and the kingdom has gone to my brother; for it has come to him from the Lord. Now I have one request to make of you. Do not refuse me.' 'You may make it,' she said. So he continued, 'Please ask King Solomon---he will not refuse you---to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.' 'Very well,' Bathsheba replied. 'I will speak to the king for you.'" (1 Kings 2:13-18)

There's a lot to unpack here, as the saying goes. Adonijah has deceived himself where his popularity is concerned. He states that "the kingdom was mine" which was never true at any time. David had made it plain to everyone that his chosen successor was Solomon. As the oldest living son of King David, Adonijah felt he should have been regarded by one and all as the crown prince of Israel, but David had never made any secret of it that the Lord had told him Solomon was to succeed him as king. It was widely known that Solomon was the crown prince of Israel, not Adonijah or any of David's other sons. Adonijah has never wanted to accept this fact and he imagines that Israel's citizens don't want to accept it either. He claims, "All Israel looked to me as their king," but this is not so. He does have supporters but the number of them is not known. All we know is that Joab the general, Abiathar the priest, Adonijah's brothers other than Solomon, and other guests attended the feast Adonijah held for himself on the day he declared himself king. These likely don't represent the total number of people who feel the crown should rightfully have been passed on to Adonijah, but I would be surprised if Adonijah could have won more than 25% of the vote if an election were held. David was a good king for the people and they loved him. If David said Solomon was the right man for the job---chosen by God---that was all most of the them needed to hear to place their support behind Solomon. 

Adonijah pretends to Bathsheba as if he has come to terms with the fact that the kingship has been given to Solomon "from the Lord". He's putting on a front of being a spiritually-minded man. He's also appealing to Bathsheba's sympathy. He wants her to feel sorry for him. He wants her to think he's in love with the woman whose hand in marriage he wants to gain. If we fully dissect his words above with all their nuances, it's as if he's saying something like this: "I will not oppose the Lord. It is His choice to have Solomon reign from our father's throne. So be it. But since I grew up counting on the kingship coming to me, and since it was basically mine until only a few days ago, you can imagine how discouraged I'm feeling right now. I'd like to ask for a consolation prize. It's a small request, really, but Solomon won't grant it if I go to him myself. He is still holding it against me that I tried to keep him from being crowned king of Israel. But if you make the request on my behalf, he will not refuse it, for you are his dear mother and he cannot refuse you anything! I have fallen in love with our late father's wife Abishag and would like to have her as my wife. But though she is widowed now, I cannot ask for her hand in marriage since everything that was David's is now Solomon's. I am compelled to ask Solomon for her hand in marriage, only I dare not go into his presence. Would you do it for me? I will never ask for anything from Solomon again. If this request is granted, I will be a very happy man. My hopes for the kingship have been dashed and having this woman as my wife is the only other thing in life I've ever really wanted. Please appeal to Solomon on my behalf."

While there are some scholars who give Adonijah the benefit of the doubt by suggesting there are no political motives involved in his request (they think he really does feel affection for Abishag), they are definitely in the minority. Abishag is the last woman David ever married and the two of them never consummated their marriage. She is the youngest of all of David's wives and concubines, as far as we know, and her youth means she is the most likely of all of his wives to be able to produce an heir for Adonijah. The wives and concubines David married in his early years as king are beyond childbearing age by now, for he reigned for forty years. So Adonijah is asking for the youngest, most physically attractive, most fertile of all the women of the royal harem. He's asking for something David never even experienced, since David was in far too ill health to have relations with Abishag. If Solomon agrees to Adonijah's request, Adonijah will be strengthening his claim to the throne by having as his chief wife a woman who was the former king's wife. He will further be able to strengthen his claim if he can sire a male heir with this woman, especially if he fathers a son before Solomon does, because this will prove he is virile enough to produce descendants of David who can continue David's family line. 

In pagan cultures it was a common practice for the incoming king to take over his father's harem and sire children with as many of them as he could as quickly as he could. This symbolized the taking over of everything his father had, including the kingdom. This ensured the royal family line would continue. Solomon is still quite young, as we'll soon learn, and not yet married. There is no proof as of yet that he is capable of siring an heir. Marrying quickly and having a son quickly would give Adonijah something to brag about and something with which to convince people he is capable of keeping the royal line of Israel going on down through the generations. 

But Solomon will not grant Adonijah's request. He isn't fooled, as Bathsheba is, into thinking there's a love connection between Adonijah and Abishag. He recognizes Adonijah's power play for what it is. In tomorrow's passage we'll find him not only refusing the request but treating it as another attempt to commit treason against the crown, which it no doubt is. Treason was a capital crime in ancient Israel and in most or all of the ancient kingdoms of the world of those days. Solomon will order Adonijah to be executed.