And he said, “Please ask King Solomon — he will not refuse you — to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my 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?
A Request for a Throne, Not a Wife
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.
Morrish Bible DictionaryLater 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.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinAdonijah'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.
The Man Who Would Not Go Himself
Adonijah never approaches Solomon. He works through someone he thinks the king cannot refuse.
Leslie M. GrantAdonijah 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.
H. L. RossierHis 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.
The Size of a Small Request
Adonijah calls it one small thing. Bathsheba passes it on the same way.
William KellyShe 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.
Leslie M. GrantBathsheba 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.
What Belonged to David
There is a second objection, beyond politics. It has to do with who Abishag was, and who was asking for her.
H. L. RossierAbishag! 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?
A Pattern of a Later Claim
One writer reads the story forward, to a far larger attempt on what belongs to the King.
H. L. RossierWill 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.
Summary
- 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.