Discernment, wisdom, and God’s involvement
1 Kings 2:10-27
During my gap year working in a Christian youth hostel in Israel, I encountered a Christian life that showed God’s grace and love, which opened my heart to live for the Lord not out of fear and guilt, but because I was drawn by the joy of fellowship with Him. When I returned home, I struggled to fit back into my old church. Although the gospel was preached there, somehow it was always judgment and God’s wrath that seemed more real from the sermons. Was it me, was it the leadership or the preacher who were at fault? Sometimes I was discouraged and could not see how to carry on there, at other times, I wondered if I was imagining things. Oftentimes, assessing a situation, gauging people’s true motivation, reading the reality behind words is a difficult task.
Adonijah’s request
Solomon likewise faces challenges of having to evaluate people and their actions to become established on the throne. His is a daunting task because the ancient world had no systems in place to ensure a peaceful transition, especially when the dynasty was new and the successor unexpected (not the eldest son).[1] Solomon now encounters Adonijah’s request to marry Abishag, David’s last concubine (though their physical relationship was never consummated; 1 Kings 1:4). Taking a former king’s wife or concubine is a royal prerogative and is effectively a bid for the throne,[2] yet Adonijah insists that he comes to Bathsheba peacefully (1 Kings 2:13) and accepts Solomon’s kingship as from the LORD (1 Kings 2:15). Is the request innocent, driven by a love for Abishag, or an attempt to seize the throne?
Discerning Adonijah’s motives
Reading between the lines, one cannot help but feel the resentment in Adonijah’s voice as he recounts how the kingdom was his earlier (v.15). This is a man who had boundless ambition and has never been crossed by his father (1 Kings 1:5-6). Would he give up on kingship that easily? And if his request is a purely personal matter, why mention his earlier claim to the kingdom? The sheer audacity of his petition is puzzling – was he too foolish to realise how it will be interpreted or thought others too naïve to see through him?[3] His arrogance shows in his statement that all Israel expected him to be king (1 Kings 2:15; he only had support in Judah and not much of that; 1 Kings 1:9, 49). Born when David was king only over Judah (2 Sam 3:2-4), he would have been an adult by the time Solomon came along. How galling to see his younger brother now on the throne from a marriage that had a sordid prehistory! No wonder he sounds resentful. He probably despised the young king, mistook his earlier pardon (1 Kings 1:50-53) for weakness and expected to pull the wool over his eyes.
Solomon’s assessment and decision
Although Bathsheba never mentions that she is Adonijah’s emissary, Solomon quickly discerns who is behind the request (1 Kings 2:23). He also interprets it as Adonijah’s wish to seize the throne and responds decisively, if harshly (1 Kings 2:22-25). Yet, how else to deal with a troublemaker who has already been pardoned once and is still angling for the throne? Is he too foolish to cause too much harm? Could he have been banished instead? Would that have left a backdoor open for further trouble? Such what-ifs are impossible to answer. At the same time, Solomon knows how to show leniency when dealing with Abiathar, the priest who supported Adonijah (1 Kings 1:7) but who also suffered with David through the wilderness years (1 Kings 2:26-27).
God’s involvement
Our reading leaves us with more questions than answers. Yet there is a hint that God is at work. Framing the incidents of the succession is the passive statement that Solomon’s kingdom was established (1 Kings 2:12, 46; not ‘Solomon established…’). Sometimes called ‘the divine passive’, it is an understated way to point to the real mover of events. While it is not necessarily an endorsement of everything Solomon did, it affirms that the Lord is working out His purposes and it fits in with the earlier promise to David about his royal line that God will establish (2 Sam 7:12-13). As it was for Solomon, making decisions in our lives takes wisdom and often we do not know whether we have chosen the right or even the best option. Nevertheless, what should encourage us is that God works through even our imperfect decisions when we seek Him.
[1] Psalm 2 reflects such a reality where there is resistance to God’s anointed (i.e. the king just installed; Ps 2:1-3, 6). However, when a king is God’s choice, He gives him power to smash opposition (note the violent language in Ps 2:9). The Lord also warns those who refuse to submit that they can expect judgment (Ps 2:12). This psalm came to be interpreted messianically but it also reflects the ancient realities of succession.
[2] This is behind Absalom’s rape of David’s concubines left in Jerusalem (2 Sam 20:21). Likewise, Saul’s son, Ish-bosheth fears the strength of his commander, Abner, and accuses him of taking Saul’s concubine, Rizpah (2 Sam 3:6-7), an act that would signal Abner’s intent to become king.
[3] For instance, why would Adonijah think that his rival’s mother (Bathsheba) would help him? Perhaps he thought Bathsheba stupid, though her wariness is obvious when she asks if Adonijah is coming peacefully (1 Kings 2:13). Or did he hope to find an ally in her because she may have been jealous of Abishag for the physical closeness to David that she herself did not have by the end of his life? There is certainly a poignancy in the scene where Bathsheba comes to David regarding Adonijah’s conspiracy with Abishag ministering to David in the background (1 Kings 1:15-18). Additionally, it is possible that Bathsheba was perfectly aware of how Solomon was going to take Adonijah’s request and was happy to be the instrument of the man’s downfall.
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