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Category: Personal Study
Thread: Game of Thrones (Season 3 Begins!)
Post Topic: The Treacherous Prince Adonijah Exposed
Post in Thread: #27
Previous: Loyalty of the Valiant Hero Never Wavers (Benaniah, The Mighty)
Next: King Solomon Becomes the Wisest Man Ever
Scripture: I Kings 2:13-35
In this post, we’ll study how the treacherous prince Adonijah was exposed by his half-brother King Solomon. Adonijah paid the ultimate price when he refused to accept the gracious mercy of Solomon, but instead continued scheming to steal the throne.
Key Verses (but read entire passage):
I Kings 2:23
Then King Solomon swore by the Lord: “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if Adonijah does not pay with his life for this request!
Observations
Context
Uprising quashed; Solomon demonstrates mercy
In the last Game of Thrones post from season two, as King David was nearing death, a power struggle emerged over which son would take over the throne. The story of this uprising is described in I Kings 1 if you want to read it yourself. We summarize it here:
- King David wanted Solomon, his son through his wife Bathsheba, to take the throne.
- David’s oldest son from another woman, Adonijah, thought he deserved the throne.
- Adonijah acted quickly, gathering public support of two important figures:
- Joab, David’s long-time top military commander and enforcer. A brutal but powerful man.
- Abiathar, the influential priest.
- While David was still alive, Adonijah threw a great feast outside Jerusalem. A big party it was, attended by Joab and Abiathar, who publicly demonstrated their support and declared Adonijah as the next king.
- Adonijah acted quickly, gathering public support of two important figures:
- King David’s Response
- Word got back to the great prophet Nathan, who informed Bathsheba and David.
- David acted quickly, instructing Nathan and the loyal priest Zadok to anoint Solomon inside the walls of Jerusalem, with much fanfare, and to have Solomon sit on the king’s throne.
- He appointed Benaiah, the might warrior, to protect this delegation.
Solomon Demonstrates Mercy
How did King Solomon react to his half-brother’s attempt at the throne?
- Adonijah had run to grab hold of the horns of the altar (a traditional place of sanctuary for a criminal to plead their case) to beg for mercy.
- Solomon’s response:
52 Solomon replied, “If he shows himself to be worthy, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he will die.” 53 Then King Solomon sent men, and they brought him down from the altar. And Adonijah came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon said, “Go to your home.”
I Kings 1:52-53
Adonijah Attempts Skulduggery
In I Kings 2:13-18, we find that Adonijah has not given up. Now he attempts a much sneakier approach – engaging Solomon’s mother Bathsheba.
- Pretending humility, Adonijah asks Bathsheba for the hand of Abishag to be his wife.
- He frames it as compensation for losing out on the throne.
- Who was Abishag? She was a beautiful virgin who’d been the personal attendant to King David. Essentially, she had provided personal hospice care for him. She’d never had sexual relations with David (I Kings 1:4), but in all other respects was a public concubine of King David.
- The empathetic Bathsheba agrees to ask Solomon to fulfill this request.
The Wrath of Solomon
Solomon perceived this as a longer play at usurping the throne (The Interpretation section explains why). He explodes in wrath at the idea that his step-brother would attempt to exploit his mercy in this manner. Remembering all who took Adonijah’s side in the initial uprising, he says this in verse 22 to Bathsheba:
“Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? You might as well request the kingdom for him—after all, he is my older brother—yes, for him and for Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah!”
Solomon swears vengeance, in verses 23-24 saying:
“May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if Adonijah does not pay with his life for this request! 24 And now, as surely as the Lord lives—he who has established me securely on the throne of my father David and has founded a dynasty for me as he promised—Adonijah shall be put to death today!”
Solomon’s Judgments
In I Kings 2:25-35, Solomon’s judgments against the conspirators are executed.
- Adonijah – Solomon instructed the warrior Benaiah to strike down Adonijah with the sword. The description is anticlimactic – he struck down Adonijah and he died.
- Abiathar, the priest – Solomon spared his life, but removed him from the priesthood and banished him to Anathoth.
- Solomon said that Abiathar deserved to die.
- But he spared Abiathar’s life because he’d gone through many trials with his father, David.
- Joab – Joab was complicated (Joab the good, Joab the bad). He’d been loyal to Solomon’s father David for a long time. He’d commanded David’s forces. But he’d also taken matters into his own hands on many occasions, even murdering rival commanders in cold blood. This final act of supporting Adonijah went against his history of loyalty to David. He had to know that David wanted Solomon to be king.
- Solomon sent Benaiah to execute Joab.
- Like Adonijah had done, Joab ran for the horns of the altar.
- When Benaiah reported back to Solomon that Joab refused to leave the altar and take his punishment, Solomon’s reply was fitting:
Then the king commanded Benaiah, “Do as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so clear me and my whole family of the guilt of the innocent blood that Joab shed. 32 The Lord will repay him for the blood he shed, because without my father David knowing it he attacked two men and killed them with the sword. Both of them—Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army—were better men and more upright than he. 33 May the guilt of their blood rest on the head of Joab and his descendants forever. But on David and his descendants, his house and his throne, may there be the Lord’s peace forever.”
Consolidation of Power
Final Results:
- Zadok replaced the banished Abiathar as high priest.
- Dig Deeper – there’s an interesting line in I Kings 2:27 about fulfilled prophecy. Dive in and figure out how this one action of Solomon fulfilled two priestly prophesies.
- Prophecy one – verse 27 itself gives you background information – the word of the Lord spoken to Eli at Shiloh. What’s this about?
- Prophecy two – this one’s a bit tougher. It involves Zadok, a descendant of a priest named Phinehas, a grandson of the original high priest Aaron.
- Dig Deeper – there’s an interesting line in I Kings 2:27 about fulfilled prophecy. Dive in and figure out how this one action of Solomon fulfilled two priestly prophesies.
- Benaiah replaced Joab as the commander of the armed forces.
- The 12 tribes of Israel were finally, peacefully, united under one leader in the Promised Land.
Interpretation
Author
The author of 1 Kings and 2 Kings might have been the prophet Jeremiah, but there is no certainty of that.
Genre
Historical narrative. I and II Kings record the monarchical succession of the leaders of Israel and Judah, seeking to provide a detailed factual description of events. The writer is a historian, a theologian, and a storyteller.
Why Treasonous?
Why was Solomon so angry? Why did he believe this request of Adonijah was made in bad faith?
The MacArthur Study Bible explains why Adonijah’s request was an attempt to chip away at the authority of the kingship of Solomon:
In the ancient Near East, possession of the royal harem was a sign of kingship (cf. 2 Sam. 3:8; 12:8; 16:20–22). Adonijah’s request for Abishag was an attempt to support his claim to the kingship and perhaps generate a revolt to usurp the throne. Bathsheba didn’t see the treachery.
In asking for the hand of King David’s public concubine, Adonijah was hoping to seize on this tradition as an inroad to convincing the people that he was the rightful king.
We see a preview of Solomon’s wisdom here, even before God granted him exceptional wisdom. Solomon discerned the intentions of Adonijah, and took swift action. Another clue for Solomon might have been the fact that Adonijah didn’t come directly to Solomon – he made his plea through Solomon’s mother.
Solomon Meant What He Said
Remember back in the Context section what Solomon said when he first spared Adonijah’s life and sent him home? “If he shows himself to be worthy, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he will die.”
- Adonijah mistook Solomon’s mercy for weakness.
- The evil within Adonijah surfaced, and it didn’t even take long.
- Adonijah had violated the terms of Solomon’s original decree. Adonijah had stepped over the red line. Solomon didn’t move the line. He did what he said he would do, pronouncing judgment upon Adonijah.
Joab Finally Reaps What He’d Sown
The picture of Joab’s death is an odd one. It’s hard to see this man running for his life; begging for mercy; dying like a coward. He must have grown older and realized he was no match for Benaiah. Joab also knew the power of God, and knew that power was with Benaiah.
So what was the difference between the two? Joab knew God’s power, but he never submitted to it. Although he’d remained loyal to David, he often took matters into his own hands, thinking he knew better than the king. He also took matters into his own hands when necessary to protect his position as commander of David’s forces.
But the time had finally come for his sins to be punished. According to the laws of Moses, the horns of the altar would protect a person who’d caused an accidental death. But not a person who’d committed premeditated murder. So Solomon’s final sentence was just. Benaiah struck down Joab at the foot of the altar itself.
Imagine
Bathsheba waited for her son to enter the throne room. She pondered Adonijah’s request. He seemed sincere enough. And her heart went out to the young woman. Abishag had gently nurtured David during his final days, providing care that Bathsheba’s creaking body could no long perform. All without complaints. And despite the whispers, the two of them had remained pure.
Abishag had taken care of David. But now that David was gone, who who take care of Abishag? The request of Adonijah was a kindness…
Solomon’s unmistakable footsteps pounded on the floor. His presence immediately commanded the room. Servants hurried to their places. Her chest swelled with pride at the young man. So much different than his step-brothers! How could all of them have turned out so bad? She missed David dearly, but Solomon inherited all of David’s best traits. And truth be told, he was even more striking than David had been…
How sweet! He was bowing before her. He took her hand and led her to the throne he’d built, on the right hand of his throne. “You wished to see me, Imma?”
“I have a small request to make of you,” she said. “I hope you won’t refuse.”
“A small request? How could I refuse?”
She leaned forward. How to phrase it? Delicately? No, just say it. “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given in marriage to your brother Adonijah.”
A storm crossed his face. He leaped from his throne. ““Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? You might as well request the kingdom for him—after all, he is my older brother—yes, for him and for Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah!”
Bathsheba recoiled. She’d rarely seen this anger from Solomon. She hadn’t seen it from David in decades, but there it was in her son. Yes, he was David’s child.
Solomon ranted on, swearing an oath against his half-brother, pronouncing a death sentence upon him. “Benaiah!” Solomon called. He pointed at a servant. “You! Fetch Benaiah! This ends today!”
Suddenly, it hit Bathsheba. Adonijah had been using her. His motives had not been pure. He didn’t care about Abishag. He cared about the throne. Solomon was right.
She sat up as straight as her aching back would allow. Solomon paid no notice to her as he gathered his men. Nathan, Benaiah, Zadok, and others. Swiftly and decisively, he took action.
She’d never been more proud. Her boy was a man. The Lord had chosen correctly.
Correlation
A Similar Example
2 Samuel 16:20-22 – Another man had attempted to take concubines as a sign of his kingship: Absalom.
Absalom’s similarities to Adonijah are striking. He was a son of David, who led a revolt against the king. David actually had to flee Jerusalem during this revolt. At this time, as a sign of his usurping the throne, Absalom got some bad advice to sleep with David’s harem. On the roof of the palace, no less.
This act was an abomination to God. Absalom’s revolt had more legs than Adonijah’s but, it ultimately ended in failure, and execution at the hands of Joab.
Our response to mercy and grace
Romans 6:15
God’s offer of grace and forgiveness of our since is a great mercy on his part. We don’t deserve it. But how should we respond? Is this a license to keep sinning, because God will keep forgiving? “By no means!” Paul says.
In subsequent verses, Paul goes on to compare sin to slavery. In this metaphor, he says that we sometimes choose to be slaves to sin by continuing in it. Instead, he says, let’s choose to be slaves to righteousness.
Application
Generic Applications
Adonijah received a second chance from Solomon. A chance he didn’t deserve. But how did he respond to this mercy? He kept on scheming. He saw it as a weakness in Solomon, and thought he could exploit that weakness. But Solomon was not weak. Solomon meant what he said. And it ended badly for Adonijah.
God has shown mercy to all of us. But that is not weakness. Mercy is actually a strength. And like Solomon, God means what he says. There are consequences if we try to exploit God’s mercy rather than submit to his will. Let’s pray that we recognize when our King shows us mercy so that we can repent of our sins and draw closer to him.
Personalize it
How do I respond to mercy? Especially God’s mercy? Do I see it as license to sin more? Or do I repent and ask the Holy Spirit to empower me to do better? Let’s resolve not to become a slave to any sin. Yes, we may fail. But let’s repent and submit to God’s will, unlike Joab and Adonijah.
Leave a Comment
Let us know in the comments how this struck you. Have you ever mistaken mercy for weakness?
Bible study methodology adapted from Searching the Scriptures with permission from Tyndale House:
Swindoll, Charles, Searching the Scriptures. Tyndale House Publishers, 2016.
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