Psalm 37:12,13; 1 Kings 2:10,12-23
The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.
So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David…Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly.
And Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, Comest thou peaceably? And he said, Peaceably. He said moreover, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And she said, Say on. And he said, Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign: howbeit the kingdom is turned about, and is become my brother’s: for it was his from the LORD. And now I ask one petition of thee, deny me not. And she said unto him, Say on. And he said, Speak, I pray thee, unto Solomon the king, (for he will not say thee nay,) that he give me Abishag the Shunammite to wife. And Bathsheba said, Well; I will speak for thee unto the king.
Bathsheba therefore went unto king Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right hand. Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee; I pray thee, say me not nay. And the king said unto her, Ask on, my mother: for I will not say thee nay. And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah thy brother to wife.
And king Solomon answered and said unto his mother, And why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he is mine elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah. Then king Solomon sware by the LORD, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Bathsheba was surprised to see Adonijah in her apartment, and asked him if he did not come with a design to do her a mischief, because she had been instrumental to crush his late attempt. “No,” says he, “I come peaceably.”
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): “He said, moreover, I have something to say unto thee”—signifying that he came upon business: “and she said, say on”—intimating her readiness to hear what it was.
THE EDITOR: Why? Was it curiosity? Or, was it her nervousness in this awkward situation?
JOHN GILL: She might fear he came to avenge himself on her and destroy her, because she had been the instrument of disappointing him of the kingdom, and of getting her son Solomon set upon the throne, and established in it; and therefore could not tell what envy, rage, and disappointment, might prompt him to.
MATTHEW HENRY: He came to beg a favour—that she would use the great interest that she had with her son to gain his consent that he might marry Abishag. And if he may obtain this, he will thankfully accept it, as a compensation for his loss of the kingdom. He insinuates that “Thou knowest the kingdom was mine,” as my father’s eldest son, “and all Israel set their faces on me.” This was false; they were but a few that he had on his side; yet thus he would represent himself as an object of compassion, that had been deprived of a crown, and therefore might well be gratified in a wife…He owns Solomon’s right to the kingdom: “It was his from the Lord.” I was foolish in offering to contest it; and now that it is turned about to him I am satisfied.” Thus he pretends to be well pleased with Solomon’s accession to the throne, when he is doing all he can to give him disturbance; “His words were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart,” Psalm 55:21.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): He cheerfully gives up all right to the kingdom, and only desires to have this young woman, who, though she had been his father’s wife or concubine, was still in a state of virginity. Some think that Joab and Abiathar had advised Adonijah to make this application.
MATTHEW HENRY: Abiathar and Joab were both aiding and abetting in Adonijah’s previous rebellious attempt, 1 Kings 1:7; and it is probable they were at the bottom of this new motion made of Adonijah for Abishag.
THE EDITOR: It’s not probable—it’s certain. As high priest, Abiathar was the one indispensable man sufficiently expert in the Mosaic law, to find a legal technicality to allow Adonijah’s marriage to Abishag, and also able to pronounce it lawful. Otherwise, how could Adonijah’s request be considered at all? It would have been directly contrary to the precise wording of Leviticus 18:8, and a replay of Absalom’s sin. But Abishag’s marriage to David was in name only, a marriage of convenience, and it was well known that she had remained a virgin. Since this marriage had never been consumated, technically Abishag had never been “joined together” as “one flesh” with David in its true Biblical sense; isn’t that the significance of the word “cleave” in Genesis 2:24?
JOHN GILL: That was the ground of Adonijah’s request, and his hope of succeeding.
THE EDITOR: But it took Joab, the manipulative man of subtle engineering, who had once sent a woman with a tale to David, to know who to send with this dubious marriage proposal, and how to present it—because Joab understood Bathsheba’s character better than anyone, from her youthful days as the wife of Uriah, his fellow officer; and only he knew all the details of what had happened between her and David.
MATTHEW HENRY: Adonijah engaged Bathsheba to be his friend in this matter, who would be forward to believe it a matter of love, and not apt to suspect it a matter of policy.
THE EDITOR: Bathsheba was a woman who reasoned from her emotions, not her head; and like Eve, she was easily deceived. Physically very beautiful in her youth, she understood from her own experience the sexual attraction of carnal “love.” Beyond that, she seems rather intellectually dull, despite her many years in the royal court. As David’s principal wife, perhaps Bathsheba desired to see Abishag gone from her royal household. Also, by doing Adonijah this favour, she probably hoped to placate any lingering animosity that he might harbour toward herself and her son. Believing Adonijah’s desire for Abishag to be a carnal lust, she most likely decided that it well served her own motives. That’s why she not only supported Adonijah’s marriage, but she made it her own very personal plea—even elucidating an obligation from Solomon to grant it for her sake, before telling him what she wanted. But when Solomon did hear her request, he was astonished by his mother’s stunning lack of discernment.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): “I desire one small petition of thee.” Small she called it, but Solomon, who saw further into the matter, judged otherwise of it.
MATTHEW HENRY: His reply is somewhat sharp: “Ask for him the kingdom also.” To ask that he may succeed the king in his bed is, in effect, to ask that he may succeed him in his throne.
JOHN GILL: “Even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” She might as well ask for them as for him—so the one might be continued in the office of high priest, and the other as general of the army.
THE EDITOR: As Solomon wrote, there is “a time to every purpose under heaven,” Ecclesiates 3:1. Now this was “a time to kill,” Ecclesiastes 3:3; and Solomon acted immediately, sending Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, to slay Adonijah, 1 Kings 2:25. It was “a time to cast away,” Ecclesiastes 3:6; and Solomon deposed Abiathar from the priesthood—but, “in wrath, remembered mercy,” Habbakuk 3:2—because Abiathar had borne the ark and suffered afflictions with David, Solomon spared him, but banished him to Anathoth, which in Hebrew means afflictions; Abiathar was a child of God, and God’s purpose was to chasten him, and to fulfill His Word in a past judgment upon Eli, Abiathar’s ancestor, 1 Kings 2:26,27.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Joab heard that Adonijah had been slain and Abiathar banished. Fearing for his safety, he “fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar,” claiming Divine protection, and desiring to have his case decided by God alone; or perhaps a spark of remorse is now kindled, and, knowing that he must die, he wishes to die in the house of God, as it were, under His shadow—that he might receive the mercy of the Almighty, 1 Kings 2:28-33.
THE EDITOR: But “he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy,” James 2:13. When did Joab ever show mercy? To satisfy a very personal revenge, Joab made Absalom suffer three unnecessary agonies. And for revenge and his own personal advantage, he had murdered both Abner and Amasa with guile—see Exodus 21:12-14. Therefore, in obedience to God’s law in Exodus, and David’s solemn charge, Solomon ordered Benaiah to take Joab from the altar and slay him, 1 Kings 2:34.
