A Foolish And Fatal Petition. So now I am making one request of you; do not refuse me.” And she said to him, “Speak.” He said, “Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not refuse you; ask that he may give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.” 1Ki 2:16-17
National Development under the Monarchy
INTRODUCTION
Originally Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles were regarded as one series, and called the Books of Kings. In the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament, made during the period between the Testaments), each of these books was divided into two parts; and what we term First Kings was called the Third Book of Kings.
It is impossible to fix accurately either the date when this book was compiled, or the name of the writer. From the fact that the last chapter of II Kings records the release of Jehoiachin from captivity, which took place B.C. 562, but makes no mention of the decree of Cyrus, B.C. 538, with which the return of the Jews from captivity began, it is concluded that the book was compiled sometime between these dates.
The sources from which the compiler drew were three: the Book of the Acts of Solomon, 1Ki_11:41; the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, 1Ki_14:29, etc.; and the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, 1Ki_14:19. The Chronicles here referred to are not the books called Chronicles in the Bible, but separate works which are now lost.
The history of the nation is recorded from the close of the reign of David to the middle of the reign of Ahaziah. In its highest glory under Solomon, the kingdom foreshadows the millennial kingdom of our Lord. The prosperity of the nation rises or falls according to the character of the ruler and his people, illustrating for us the important truth that obedience is the condition of blessing.
I .THE UNITED KINGDOM, I Kings 1-11
1. The Rebellion of Adonijah and the Coronation of Solomon, 1Ki_1:1-53
6. Why was Adonijah put to death?
A FOOLISH AND FATAL PETITION.
THE DEATH OF DAVID
So David lay down with his fathers [in death] and was buried in the City of David.
The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years: he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
Then Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.
SOLOMON’S REIGN ESTABLISHED
Now Adonijah the son of [David and] Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She said, “Do you come in peace?” And he said, “In peace.”
Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” And she said, “Speak.”
So he said, “You know that the kingdom belonged to me [as the eldest living son] and all Israel looked to me and expected me to be king. However, the kingdom has passed [from me] and became my brother’s, for it was his from the LORD.
So now I am making one request of you; do not refuse me.” And she said to him, “Speak.”
He said, “Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not refuse you; ask that he may give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.” [1Ki_1:1-4]
Bathsheba replied, “Very well; I will speak to the king for you.”
So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her, bowed before her, and sat down on his throne; then he had a throne set for her, the king’s mother, and she sat on his right.
Then she said, “I am making one small request of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”
So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as a wife.”
King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “And why are you asking for Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask the kingdom for him also–since he is my older brother–[ask it] for him and for Abiathar the priest and Joab the son of Zeruiah [his supporters]!”
Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, “May God do the same to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not requested this [deplorable] thing against his own life.
So now, as the LORD lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house as He promised, Adonijah shall indeed be put to death today.”
So King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he struck Adonijah and he died.
F.B.Meyer
On
1 Kings 2:10-25
A FOOLISH AND FATAL PETITION
So David’s troubled life came to a close, but he has never ceased to lead the praises of the saints.
At the very beginning of his reign Solomon was confronted by a difficult problem. There was so close a connection in public opinion between the title to the crown and the possession of a deceased monarch’s harem, that it would have been impossible to grant Adonijah’s request without giving strong encouragement to his pretensions. Solomon treated Bathsheba with profound respect, but his love for her did not blind him to his duty to his realm, Pro_20:26.
Notice that solemn declaration, “As Jehovah liveth,” 1Ki_2:24. It was common to the godly of those days. See 1Ki_17:1. They would not use the phrase lightly nor flippantly, but with a profound realization of standing in the presence of God. Let us recall those words of our Lord, “As the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father,” Joh_6:57, and let us draw daily on His life, so that we may live-yet not we, but he in us and we in Him, Gal_2:20.
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