1 Kings 2:20

Beautiful is the reverence which Solomon showed to his mother. He rose from his throne, he bowed himself to her (the Septuagint version reads "he kissed her"), and he made her sit at his right hand. How he honoured and loved her! It may foreshadow the love of Him for the believing remnant of Israel, His beloved people, who will have a share in His coming Kingdom.

It did not look like much, but Solomon was wise. Solomon detected the unjudged ambition and rebellion of Adonijah's heart… She presented what she called a small petition. That is often done when there is something great behind it, though not always known, for Bathsheba on this occasion was only the instrument of one who did not seek something small, but the greatest place in the kingdom.

Abishag! — that young woman who had served David and had tenderly cared for him, who had lived in the intimacy of the king of grace, to be given to this rebellious man whom only the patience of Solomon had spared until this moment! How little he knew both David and Solomon! 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 assert at some favourable moment.

Adonijah's request was a scheme to obtain the kingdom. Most likely Abiathar the priest and Joab had planned it. In the customs of that day, taking a dead king's wife or concubine amounted to claiming the rights of the king. Abishag was not David's wife in the full sense of the word, yet she must have been considered as belonging to the departed king. Had Solomon granted the request, he would have hopelessly degraded himself in the eyes of the people.

Bathsheba did not discern the dangers of such a suggestion, and was led more by a sympathetic nature than by careful wisdom when she agreed to intercede for him. She ought to have simply reported to Solomon what Adonijah had said, rather than telling him she had only a small petition to make and urging him not to deny her request. But Solomon was also too quick to assure his mother — before hearing her request — that he would not refuse it.

When she made her request, he flatly refused it, because he recognised that Adonijah still wanted the kingdom. Bathsheba had thought it was a small matter, but Solomon discerned the spirit behind the request, which was a deeply serious matter. He found he could not keep his word to his mother. Instead he decided that Adonijah must die, so that he would be no threat to Solomon's authority.

It will be the same with regard to the Church. Will the King of Glory ever consent to yield 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 apostate Christendom, which becomes Babylon the Great at the end. But his efforts to substitute himself for Christ, to take possession of His bride, and to seize the kingdom will end for both the harlot and for himself in the lake of fire and brimstone.