Troublesome Topic: Adonijah Asks for Abishag

After Solomon was made king, and after David died, Adonijah, the one who had tried to take the throne, went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, and asked her to persuade Solomon to give Abishag to him. Abishag was the virgin girl who had been chosen to lay in bed with King David and keep him warm (see my comments about Abishag’s role in my Strange Story entitled I Kings 1 WHY DIDN’T DAVIDS WIVES KEEP HIM WARM?). Apparently, Bathsheba didn’t see any problem with this and she agreed to the request. Solomon, however, saw big problems with this request. Even though the text tells us that King David did not have sexual relations with Abishag, the fact that she had been in bed with the king made her similar to a concubine in the minds of many people. If Solomon had given Abishag to his rebellious big brother as a wife, it would have given validity to his claim that, since he was the oldest living son, he should actually be the king.

The part of this request that is of interest to us in our discussion about Solomon and Naamah is this: Under normal circumstances, such a request would have been ridiculous and would have brough instant death. My point is that under normal circumstances Adonijah would never had made this request. If you think that Adonijah was not thinking straight because he was crazy in love with Abishag, you need to realize that this had little to do with the girl and everything to do with who was sitting on the throne of David. However, in this case, it is possible that Adonijah thought he had a leg to stand on for this reason. “You, Solomon, got the girl you wanted (the Ammonite princess Naamah), even when it wasn’t right, so how can you refuse me when I ask for Abishag? You lack the moral authority to tell me ‘no’.”

 It did not end well for Adonijah. Solomon killed him anyway. The reality is that Adonijah had been given a warning once already. After Solomon was made king, Adonijah went to the temple and held on to the horns of the altar in a plea for mercy. Through a messenger, Solomon granted him mercy with this warning, “if he proves himself a worthy son (subject), not one hair shall fall to the ground, but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” This request about Abishag was more than Solomon could handle, and because of his clear warning, Solomon was right to kill Adonijah and remove any further threats to his throne.

The next lesson is: The Early Years of Solomon’s Reign