And now I ask one petition of thee; refuse me not. And she said to him, Speak.
Adonijah had already tried to seize the throne, and failed. Now he comes to Solomon's mother with one request, and asks her to promise before she hears it that she will not refuse. The words sound modest. Two questions follow: what was he asking for, and why through her?
Adonijah speaks before he asks. Bathsheba doubted him from the start and asked whether he came in peace. He replies that the kingdom was his, and that all Israel had looked to him. One writer finds the man's real heart in that opening line:
This man looks broken on the outside, but his heart is far from broken. "You know," he says, "that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign." How could such claims fail to stir the indignation of the true king? He — Adonijah — to have all the rights of succession to the crown and to the people of David! His words alone show an embittered heart, a bitterness long held down. It comes out now because he had not judged himself in the least.
He does add that the kingdom became his brother's, and that it was his from the Lord. But was that real submission? The same writer says no. Adonijah "accepts this because he cannot do otherwise."
He does not take his request to the king. He takes it to the king's mother, and he secures her promise before revealing what he wants.
He asked Bathsheba to intercede for him, to ask Solomon to allow Adonijah to take Abishag as his wife. He thought Bathsheba's intercession would carry weight with Solomon (vv. 16-17). Bathsheba did not see the dangers in such a suggestion. A sympathetic nature led her more than careful wisdom, and she agreed to plead for him (v. 18).
Grant adds that Bathsheba handled it badly. She should have simply told Solomon what Adonijah had said. Instead she repeated Adonijah's own tactic: she asked her son for one small favour and urged him not to refuse her. Solomon was too quick as well. He promised before he had heard what she wanted.
The request comes out in the next verse. He wants Abishag, the young woman who had cared for David in his last days. That ask was far bigger than it sounds.
Adonijah's request was a scheme to take the kingdom. Abiathar and Joab most likely put it together. To many, a deceased king's wife or concubine was, by Eastern custom, as good as a claim to the rights of the king (2 Samuel 12:8; 16:21-22). Now Abishag was not David's wife in the full sense of the word. Even so, she must have counted as belonging to the dead king.
Solomon's reply confirms it. He tells his mother to ask for the kingdom for Adonijah too. Granting the favour, the same writer says, would have "hopelessly degraded" Solomon in the eyes of the people.
Adonijah asks for one small thing. The small size is part of the plan.
It did not look like much on the surface, but Solomon was wise. Solomon detected the unjudged ambition and rebellion in Adonijah's heart... Bathsheba, on this occasion, was only the instrument of another man. He was not seeking something small. He wanted the greatest place in the kingdom.
Kelly adds that a small petition "is often done when there is something great behind, though not always known." Bathsheba carried the request. She did not know what she carried. Solomon still judged the matter, even though it was his own mother who brought it.
To grant this "one request" would not have been a kindness. It would have been a legal concession.
Abishag! — that young woman who had served David and cared for him tenderly. She had lived close to the king of grace. And she was to be given to this rebellious man, whom only the patience of Solomon had spared until this moment!... To give Abishag to him would be to admit that he had some right to his father's succession, some contact with the kingdom which he might be able to press at some favourable moment. It would be to accept his claims, and the revolt led by Joab and Abiathar, as legitimate.
Rossier closes with a question: should the woman who served David as a pure virgin be handed over to this godless man? Solomon's answer came fast. He had Adonijah put to death that same day.
- Heart — His opening claim that the kingdom was his exposes "an embittered heart, a bitterness long held down." He never judged it, so he was never safe.
- Route — He would not face the king. He worked through the king's mother, using her influence because he had none of his own.
- Request — One modest favour was really a claim on the dead king's household. By custom, that meant a claim on the crown.
- Reach — Behind the small words stood "the greatest place in the kingdom." Bathsheba became the tool of an ambition she never saw.
- Result — Granting it would have made the rebellion legal. Solomon refused, and Adonijah died that same day. The throne stood.
And he said, Speak, I pray thee, to Solomon the king -- for he will not refuse thee -- that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife.
Adonijah had already tried to seize David's throne. Now he comes to Solomon's mother with what sounds like a small personal favour. Two questions follow. Can a man bow to a king he still resents in his heart? And what does Abishag, the young woman who cared for David in his last days, have to do with the crown?
Asking for a woman from the dead king's household was never a private matter. It carried a political claim that is easy to miss today.
Later he asked to be given Abishag as his wife, the woman who had shared David's bed. According to Herodotus, eastern countries saw such a request as a claim to the crown. That fits Solomon's words, "Ask for him the kingdom also." It also explains the advice Ahithophel gave Absalom, to go in openly to his father's wives.
Another writer sees a plot behind the words, and names the men likely behind it.
Adonijah's request was a scheme to get the kingdom. Most likely Abiathar and Joab cooked it up... Abishag was not David's wife in the full sense of the word, yet people must have counted her as belonging to the dead king.
Adonijah never approaches Solomon. He works through someone he thinks the king cannot refuse.
Adonijah was like many religious people today. They choose to pray to Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus, to seek her influence with the Lord. He was too cautious to approach Solomon himself. But he told Bathsheba that she knew the kingdom was his and that all Israel had set their expectations on him. This was only pride, for how did he know that all Israel favored him?
One writer asks whether Adonijah's submission to Solomon was ever real.
His words alone reveal a bitter heart. That bitterness was held down for a long time, and now it shows itself, because he had not judged himself at all. True, he also adds, "The kingdom has turned about and become my brother's, for it was his from the LORD." But is this a real recognition of the will of God, a real submission to the throne of righteousness? Adonijah accepts it because he cannot do otherwise. He certainly does not belong to the "willing people" in the day of the power of the son of David. To his mind Solomon is an intruder.
Adonijah calls it one small thing. Bathsheba passes it on the same way.
She presented what she called a small petition. People often do that when something great lies behind, though it is not always known. On this occasion Bathsheba was only the instrument of a man who was not seeking something small. He was seeking the greatest place in the kingdom — and so Abishag is what he asks for.
One writer faults two others in the scene, not just the schemer.
Bathsheba did not see the danger in such a suggestion. A kind heart, rather than careful wisdom, led her to agree to speak to Solomon for him. She should have simply told Solomon what Adonijah had said. Instead she told him she had only a small request to make, and urged him not to refuse her. But Solomon too was too quick. He promised his mother he would not refuse, before he had heard what she wanted.
There is a second objection, beyond politics. It has to do with who Abishag was, and who was asking for her.
Abishag! That young girl had served David and cared for him with tenderness. She had lived close to the king of grace. And now she is to be handed over to this rebel, whom only Solomon's patience had spared until this moment!... Should the woman who served David as a pure virgin be handed to this godless man?
One writer reads the story forward, to a far larger attempt on what belongs to the King.
Will the King of Glory ever agree to hand over to another the bride He has chosen for Himself as King of Grace? The Antichrist, the man of sin, may hope to rob Christ of His bride by seizing a Christendom that has turned away from God... But he tries to put himself in Christ's place, to take His bride, and to seize the kingdom. Those efforts will end for the harlot and for himself in the lake of fire and brimstone.
- Ask small. He offers it as a small favour, but behind it stands a bid for "the greatest place in the kingdom."
- Ask sideways. Adonijah will not face Solomon. He sends a third party, hoping her influence will win what he dare not ask for himself.
- Ask unchanged. He said the kingdom came to his brother from the Lord. His words to Bathsheba show a man who had never judged himself.
- Granted small, lost large. If Solomon had granted it, he would have handed the rebel a claim to the throne.
- Asked, and answered. Bathsheba's kindness missed the danger. Solomon promised too fast. But his reply, "Ask for him the kingdom also," showed he had seen the real request.