And Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king; and he provided himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.
David is old and dying, the succession is unsettled, and one of his sons decides not to wait. The verse shows a man crowning himself, and it raises two questions: what makes someone grab what God has not given, and what part did his father play?
Adonijah was not filling an empty space. The next king had already been named in public, in front of the nation's leaders.
The revelation of a divine purpose stirs up the opposition of the Devil, and he works at once to frustrate it. 1 Chronicles 22 describes an important gathering in Jerusalem. There David made known that Solomon, though one of his youngest sons, was the Lord's choice for the throne. He at once charged him to build a house for God. He also charged all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son (1 Chron. 22:17). The young man was then solemnly enthroned.
The heart of the verse is not the chariots. It is the sentence Adonijah says to himself.
It was after this, and so in full knowledge of the purpose of God, that "Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, 'I will be king'" (1 Kings 1:5). As surely as Solomon prefigures Christ, Adonijah prefigures the Antichrist. Mark the fatal words, "I will." In Isaiah 14:13-14 we hear Lucifer saying five times, "I will." Here we have the very essence of sin. 1 John 3:4, correctly translated, teaches us that "sin is lawlessness." Lawlessness is self-will. James tells us we should always say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that" (James 4:17). Self-will has been the undoing of the human race, and its full evil is not yet developed.
The chariots and runners were not a new idea. The family had watched this same parade once before.
He was imitating the pride of his brother Absalom. Absalom had tried to dethrone his father David, and he came to an end in shame and disgrace (2 Sam. 18). This should have been enough warning to Adonijah, but his pride overshadowed caution.
Two men joined him. What drew them says something about which king the human heart prefers.
Joab and Abiathar follow him. Joab, always the same, seeks only his own self-interest. Sensing that David is near his end, he turns to Adonijah, just as before he had turned to Absalom at the first opportunity. How could he take the side of the king of righteousness? The wrongs of his past life must have made him afraid of close contact with Solomon. And then there is nothing in the true king that attracts the flesh. The natural man turns, and will always turn without hesitation, toward the usurper and the false king.
Where did that will come from? Commentators point to his place in the family, to his father, and to a question his father never asked.
Born right after Absalom, though to a different mother, he no doubt thought he had the same claim to the kingdom. Pride, a will that no one had ever checked, and a high opinion of himself all drove him. He was "a very handsome man." His faults had been fed by his father's weakness, and that same weakness had done great damage in David's own life. Perhaps David spared the rod here because he was taken with his son's looks, as Absalom's story suggests. "His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, 'Why have you done thus and so?'" Families of believers often see their testimony ruined through the weakness of the parents. When they spare the rod with their children, they bring the rod on themselves. They also bring dishonour on Christ. God never acts like this. The proof of His love toward us is given in His discipline. The weakness of parents does not prove their love. It proves a selfishness that spares itself when it spares the children (Prov. 13:24).
Set against Adonijah stands One with no will of His own. The contrast lands on the reader.
Everyone born of the Spirit should hate the restlessness of the flesh in every form. They should find delight in doing the will of God. The Man Christ Jesus is our perfect example of having no will of His own. When He came into the world He said, "I delight to do your will, O my God" (Psalm 40:8). In the night of His sorrow He wanted only the Father's will to be done (Matt. 26:39). In the middle of His service He told the people around Him, "I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me" (John 6:38). Every bit of self-will we indulge tastes not of Christ, but of Antichrist.
- Root — "I will" is the essence of sin. Lucifer says the same words five times in Isaiah 14. Lawlessness and self-will are one thing.
- Soil — that will grew wild because his father never once asked why. Sparing the rod does not spare the child. It brings the rod on the home.
- Show — the chariots and runners copy Absalom, whose rebellion ended in shame. Pride ignores the warning already written in the family.
- Supporters — Joab and Abiathar join him for their own advantage. Nothing in the true king attracts the flesh, which always drifts toward the usurper.
- Substitute — the throne was never Adonijah's to take. God had already named Solomon. The true King says the opposite: not My will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
And his father had not grieved him at any time in saying, Why doest thou so? and he was also a very comely man; and [his mother] bore him after Absalom.
Before Solomon comes into the story, Adonijah tries to seize his father David's throne. This verse gives the reason it was possible: a father who never once asked his son a hard question.
Verse 5 tells us what Adonijah did; verse 6 tells us why he could. One writer traces the whole uprising back to what was missing in the home:
He "exalted himself, saying, I will be king." Pride, a will no one had ever checked, and a high opinion of himself all drove him. He was "a very handsome man." His father's weakness had fed his faults — the same weakness that had done so much to bring disaster on David's own life... Families of believers often see their testimony ruined by weak parents. In sparing the rod with their children they bring the rod on themselves, and dishonour on Christ. God never acts like this. He proves His love for us by disciplining us. A parent's weakness is not proof of love. It is selfishness: sparing themselves by sparing their children.
David was not a cold father. His problem was the opposite, and it left his son defenceless against himself:
David did not restrain the pride of his son (v.6), perhaps because the boy was so good-looking (v.6), as was true of Absalom too. David loved his sons. But he neglected the discipline that love should have used, and our sinful flesh will always take advantage of weak rule.
The verse links two facts side by side: no correction, and fine looks. Commentators see the second as part of why the first happened.
It seems Adonijah was a "spoiled child."... David treated the handsome Absalom, a little older than he was, in the same way. Good-looking children are in special danger in the hands of foolish parents... Many of God's people carry broken hearts because parents neglected discipline. The dishonour to the name of the Lord is even more serious. A Christian's house should be like the house of God, where God's will alone is done.
Adonijah was born after Absalom, and the two ended the same way. One writer draws a warning from it for parents today:
We are probably right in thinking that Absalom was brought up the same way as his younger brother. So we have a terribly sad picture of these two handsome boys, close in age, raised without any correction at all. They were allowed to do their own will and go their own way — a way that led each of them to an early and violent death. Today we call this way of raising children "self-expression," and some people are foolish enough to recommend it. But the result, as the Holy Spirit records it, should warn us to flee from this wicked and senseless method to the one God's Word lays down.
The unasked question in this verse is a father's refusal to name wrongdoing. One writer treats it as a live failure among parents today, and pairs it with what must go alongside correction:
Bringing up children has two parts. First, discipline, which means seeing a child's wrongdoing and stopping it. There are cases where fathers see their children doing something wrong and do nothing about it (we have an example of this in 1 Kings 1:6)... Second, admonition, which is a completely different thing. It means showing our children the right and good way to act, and helping them follow it. We need a balance. Some fathers stress discipline and forget admonition, while others only admonish and never act. But these things must be done "in the Lord." He is our help, so we need to depend on Him.
A child's rebellion never stays with the child. One writer turns the lesson back on the parent:
But this is the heart of the matter: the self-will of my children shows the self-will of my own heart. A righteous God is using them to discipline me, because I have not disciplined myself... To save myself trouble, I let things drift in my family. Now my children have grown up around me to be thorns in my side, because I did not train them for God. This is the story of thousands.
- Unasked — David never once challenged his son. An unchecked will grew into "I will be king."
- Unrestrained — David's failure was not a lack of love. He loved his sons but neglected the discipline love owed, and sinful flesh always takes advantage of weak rule.
- Unguarded — Good looks made it worse. Good-looking children in the hands of foolish parents are in special danger. Absalom had already proved it.
- Unbalanced — Correction alone is not enough. Discipline stops the wrong; admonition shows the right way — and a father must do both.
- Unavoidable — Spare the rod and you bring the rod on yourself. What a parent never judges in his own heart grows up in the child. The dishonour reaches past the family to the name of Christ.
And he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest; and they helped Adonijah and followed [him].
Adonijah's private ambition became an organised revolt the moment two men joined him: David's army commander and one of David's priests. Why did two men who had stood by David for decades back the usurper instead of the son God had chosen?
Adonijah went straight for the men whose backing counted most. One writer explains why Joab switched sides now, when he had not switched for Absalom.
Adonijah enlisted Joab, David's army general, to seek his support in making himself king. Joab had not supported Absalom because David was then an energetic king and Joab knew it would not serve his own best interests to desert David. But now that David was dying, Joab's natural thoughts inclined him to follow Adonijah, who was David's oldest living son. Adonijah recognized Joab to be a key man in his gaining his object. Another key man was Abiathar the priest, whom Adonijah also found willing to support him.
Each man Adonijah recruited brought something different to the plan.
Joab would influence a certain set. Abiathar the priest would have his religious name and reputation. Above all, there were the king's sons — all of them except Solomon — and, as the text says, all the men of Judah who served the king. The rebellion was widespread, and it looked carefully planned.
Joab had marched with David for a lifetime. That long record did not make him loyal. It only delayed the moment his true character showed.
As far as Joab is concerned, sooner or later the flesh, however clever it may be, must uncover itself and show its true character. For a long time Joab could keep company with David, the Lord's Anointed, and hide the motives that drove and ruled his heart. But an occasion always comes when the natural heart shows itself hostile and rebellious. It shows that it is not subject to the law of God, and cannot be.
There is a further edge to it. Joab was the very man who had once told David that numbering Israel was wrong.
But now the same man who could warn David could not warn himself. What lessons, beloved friends, at every turn.
Until this verse, Abiathar and Zadok always appear as a pair. Here they split.
Until now, the record has named the two of them together, and always on David's side: during Absalom's rebellion, and again during Sheba's rebellion. But now the time has come to separate the wheat from the chaff… Most likely, ambition drove them. They counted on positions and favours if they helped Adonijah to power. Solomon, if he became king, would owe them nothing.
Abiathar's fall was not only a personal failure. He was the last of Eli's family in office, and that family was already under God's judgment.
Abiathar was the last official representative of the house of Eli. He and his son Jonathan sided with the ambitious Adonijah, working with the veteran warrior Joab, in a plot against Solomon. For that he lost his office and was disgraced… He had shared David's sufferings in the days when David was rejected. He had carried with him the burdens of a reign that saw plenty of trouble. Yet at the end he slipped, and lost his place of honour just as Solomon's reign was about to begin.
Solomon offered these men nothing they wanted. One of them also had reason to fear him.
Joab, ever the same, seeks only his own self-interest… How could he have taken the part of the king of righteousness? The misdeeds of his past life must have made him fear too close a contact with Solomon. And then there is nothing in the true king that attracts the flesh. The natural man turns, and will always turn, without hesitation to the usurper and the false king.
Everything about the alliance was shrewd. It still collapsed.
Joab, long restrained by prudence in David's lifetime, shows himself as he is. He makes himself necessary to Adonijah, as he had been to David. Abiathar, long under the sentence of God, takes the same course. Solomon, the elect of God, who held his rights from God, did not suit them. But after all, man's prudence fails before the judgment of God.
- Recruited. Adonijah's revolt needed two men, the army commander and a priest. He got both, and their names pulled others in.
- Revealed. Joab's choice did not make his heart what it was. It exposed it. Long service beside David had only hidden his motives.
- Divided. Zadok and Abiathar had stood together through every earlier rebellion. This one split them, and ambition was the likely reason.
- Ripening. Abiathar's choice finished a judgment spoken over Eli's house long before. Delayed, but not forgotten.
- Reversed. The plan was wide, well-connected and shrewd. It still broke apart. Human prudence fails before the judgment of God.
But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men whom David had, were not with Adonijah.
Adonijah, one of David's sons, has just declared himself king while his father lies dying. He has drawn a general, a priest and most of the royal family to his side. Then comes a short list of men who were not there. That absence turns out to be the hinge of the whole chapter.
Up to now the two priests of David's reign always appeared together. This verse splits them, and one writer sees a test in that split:
At this point we see a striking difference between the two priests, Zadok and Abiathar. Until now the record kept naming them together, and both stood on David's side: during Absalom's rebellion and during Sheba's rebellion. But now the time has come to separate the wheat from the chaff... How refreshing to read in the next verse: "But Zadok the priest ... and David's mighty men were not with Adonijah." Again Zadok is on the right side — this time in contrast to Abiathar, his fellow priest. Adonijah was a "very handsome man," but that did not sway Zadok. His loyalty to David was marked by faith.
The names are not a random list. Each man was tied to someone, and that tie kept him away from Adonijah:
Zadok, Benaiah, Nathan and David's mighty men are not with Adonijah. The true priest; the prophet, God's messenger; Benaiah, the true servant who walks in the footsteps of his master — what do they have to do with him? The priest looks to God, the prophet to the Spirit of God, the servant to David, to Christ. Do they need anything else? Those mighty men have found their strength in David. Will they follow Adonijah, who cannot give it to them?
Shimei and Rei appear almost nowhere else in the Bible. About Rei, one reference work says only this:
A friend of David, mentioned when Adonijah set himself up to be king.
One writer weighs a man's title against the work he actually does:
"But Zadok the priest and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada" — Benaiah was the true servant of the king's purposes, not Joab. Joab had the name and the title, but Benaiah was the man who did the real work. And there was "Nathan the prophet," the man who interpreted the mind of God.
What kept Benaiah steady was not ambition for promotion but the habit of copying the man he served:
In David's time he already held a leading place in service. Was he not worthy of it? He had followed his master's footsteps step by step in everything, and he later became chief captain over the whole army. Still, this man has no ambition except to stay faithful to his king and to be like him. He is not like Joab, who captured the stronghold of Zion to gain the first place. No, he is humble. His whole aim is to reproduce David in the way he lives.
On the day, these few names looked like the weaker side. Numbers, talent, religious standing and royal blood all sat with Adonijah:
Turning away from the mind of God is usually a success at first. Where there is ability, every step of unfaithfulness brings big results in the world. Everything that could work on people's minds was drawn up here, and no doubt it was all well planned. Joab would influence one set of people. Abiathar the priest would bring his religious name and reputation. And above all there were the king's sons — all of them except Solomon... The rebellion was widespread, and it looked carefully planned... And that is exactly where faith can rest — on God's word... There is no real blessing except where the call of God is... The flesh may rule for a while in the world, but God must rule among God's people.
When David acts, he does not have to search for men he can trust:
King David, though weak and at death's door, rises to the occasion. He knows who he can trust: "Call me Zadok the priest …" He orders that Solomon is to be king and that Zadok is to have the honour of anointing him. Zadok receives his reward already during his lifetime.
- Absence. The verse records nothing these men did. It records where they refused to go, and that refusal is their loyalty.
- Attachment. Priest, prophet, servant and soldier each held a different tie: to God, to His Spirit, to David, to David's strength. Every tie pulled the same way.
- Ambition. Joab had the title; Benaiah did the work. The man chasing first place changed sides. The man copying his master stayed.
- Appearance. The rebellion had the crowd, the talent and the religious reputation, and still lost. Faith rests on God's word, not on a head count.
- Answer. When the dying king needed men, he called the ones who had stayed away from Adonijah. Zadok received his reward within his own lifetime.