So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her and bowed down to her. Then he sat on his throne and had a seat brought for the king's mother, and she sat on his right.
Adonijah has asked the queen mother to carry a request to her son. Solomon receives her with great honour — but the errand she has agreed to run is dangerous.
The seat beside the throne
Solomon does three things before he hears a word of her errand. One commentator sees more in them than family affection.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinBeautiful is the reverence which Solomon showed to his mother. He rose from his throne. He bowed to her (the Septuagint, an early Greek translation, reads "he kissed her"). He made her sit at his right hand. How he honoured and loved her! It may foreshadow His love for the believing remnant of Israel, His beloved people, who will share in His coming Kingdom.
Why Adonijah chose a go-between
The man behind this visit never comes himself. One commentator sees in that avoidance a pattern still common today.
Leslie M. GrantAdonijah was like many religious people today. They choose to pray to Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus, to gain 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 favoured him? Adonijah knew that the Lord had chosen Solomon as king. Yet he thought he might defeat the Lord's choice by gathering people behind him. His words to Bathsheba show that he had not submitted to Solomon in his heart, and so he could not be trusted.
A small request with something large behind it
Bathsheba calls her errand a small petition. She is not the one who shaped it.
William KellyShe presented what she called a small petition. That is often done when there is something great behind it, though it is not always known. On this occasion Bathsheba was only the instrument of one who was not seeking something small, but the greatest place in the kingdom. So the request is for Abishag.
What the request would have granted
Abishag had cared for David in his last days. Handing her to Adonijah would not have been a wedding gift; it would have been a legal foothold.
H. L. RossierTo give him Abishag would be to grant him some right to his father's succession. It would give him some contact with the kingdom, which he could claim at a convenient moment. It would treat his claims, and the revolt led by Joab and Abiathar, as lawful. Should the woman who served David as a chaste virgin be given to this godless man?
Another writer explains the custom that gave the request its force.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinAdonijah's request was a scheme to obtain the kingdom. To many people, taking a dead king's wife or concubine was, by Eastern custom, the same as claiming the king's own rights. Had Solomon granted the request, he would have hopelessly degraded himself in the eyes of the people.
Two mistakes in one conversation
The honour of this moment does not make either party careful.
Leslie M. GrantBathsheba did not see the dangers in such a suggestion. A sympathetic nature, not cautious wisdom, led her to agree to plead for him. She should have reported to Solomon exactly what Adonijah had said. Instead she told him she had only a small petition to make, and urged him not to refuse it. But Solomon too was quick to promise his mother he would not refuse — before he had heard what she wanted.
The King who will not surrender His bride
One writer sees the same struggle on a far larger stage. A rival reaches for the bride and the throne of the rightful king.
H. L. RossierIt will be the same with the Church. Will the King of Glory ever agree to hand over to another the bride He chose 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 abandoned the faith — Babylon the Great at the end. But his efforts to put himself in Christ's place, to take His bride, and to seize the kingdom will end in the lake of fire and brimstone, for the harlot and for himself alike.
Summary
- Honour — Solomon rises, bows, and seats his mother at his right hand. One writer sees here a hint of the love the coming King will show His people.
- Access — Adonijah would not come to the king himself. He worked through someone close to him — as people pray through Mary instead of coming straight to the Lord.
- Disguise — A "small petition" can carry the largest ambition. Abishag was not the real object; the throne was.
- Haste — Bathsheba agreed without discerning, and Solomon promised without listening. Sympathy and generosity both need wisdom before they commit.
- Refusal — The King will never yield His bride to another. The rival who reaches for the bride and the kingdom loses both.