Who was Adonijah in the Bible?

Fourth son of David by Haggith, born at Hebron. 2 Sam. 3:4. He was apparently the oldest of David's sons at the close of David's life, and may have supposed that he would succeed to the throne; but without consulting his father he said, "I will be king," and both Joab and Abiathar helped him. David at once proclaimed Solomon as king. Adonijah ran in fear to the horns of the altar, but Solomon promised if he showed himself a worthy man he should not be hurt. He afterwards asked to have as wife Abishag with whom David had shared his bed. According to Herodotus (3. 68) this was in eastern countries considered as a pretension to the crown, which agrees with Solomon saying, 'Ask for him the kingdom also,' and explains also the advice given by Ahithophel to Absalom, to go in publicly to his father's wives. Adonijah was at once put to death. 1 Kings 2:19-25.

The king's servants devise a means of recalling him to life (vv. 24), imitating in this the sovereigns of the surrounding nations. It seems that David lacked the will-power to oppose the plan of those around him. A Shunammite is brought to him. She cares for him and serves him. This "very fair" virgin of Israel will later be considered by Solomon as one of the most precious jewels in his crown. She is to belong to him, and whoever may dare to look on her to covet her shall bear his judgment. But let us not anticipate. That which the Word teaches us is that she did not become the wife of David, the king of grace. It is thus at present with Christ. Though having His eyes upon Israel, all the while there is another bride at the present moment taken from among the Gentiles. He shall keep her as King of Glory, but as such He will also renew His relations with the remnant of Israel, the excellent of His people.

Before Solomon comes upon the scene, Adonijah, the son of Haggith, seeks to seize the throne of David, his father (vv. 5-8). Born immediately after Absalom (v. 6; 2 Sam. 3:3-4), though of another mother, he thought no doubt to have the same claim as this latter to the kingdom. He "exalted himself, saying, I will be king." Pride, an unchecked will that had never been curbed, and a high opinion of himself, all motivated him. He was "a very comely man." His flaws had been nourished by his father's weakness, a weakness that had contributed so greatly to the disasters of David's own life. David had not been unaffected by the appearance of his children, as the history of Absalom points out; perhaps for this same reason he had spared the rod in Adonijah's case. "His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so?" Families of believers often see their testimony ruined through the weakness of the parents. In sparing the rod with their children they bring the rod upon themselves, as well as dishonour upon Christ. God never acts thus. The proof of His love toward us is furnished by His discipline. The weakness of parents is not a proof of their love, but of their egoism which would spare themselves in sparing their children (Prov. 13:24).

Adonijah follows the same path as did Absalom (2 Sam. 15:1), perhaps with less cunning deceit, for he openly manifests his pretensions and prepares chariots, runners, and horsemen for himself just as would a sovereign. Joab and Abiathar follow him. Joab, ever the same, seeks only his own self-interest. Sensing that David is near his end, he turns to Adonijah, just as previously at first opportunity he had turned to Absalom. How could he have taken the part of the king of righteousness? The misdeeds of his past life must have made him fear too intimate a contact with Solomon. And then there is nothing in the true king that is an attraction to the flesh. The natural man orients himself and will ever orient himself without hesitation toward the usurper and the false king. It is thus that we will see in a time to come that "All the world wondered after the beast."

Adonijah is a type of the man who seeks to exalt himself to the very throne of God (Dan. 11:36); Joab and Abiathar are such who take advantage of this (Dan. 11:39); the following of Adonijah are those who are subjugated by his ascendancy (Rev. 13:4).

Being 70 years old, David was near to death. He complained of the cold, though well covered with blankets. His servants thought that a young girl, a virgin, would help to warm him. Why could not one of his wives do this? But they found a beautiful young woman, Abishag, and brought her to the king (v.2). She ministered to the king's needs, but he did not cohabit with her (v.4). Men will employ any available means of dealing with problems instead of committing the problem to the Lord.

David's son by Haggith, Adonijah, realizing his father's death was imminent, took advantage of the situation, deciding he was going to be king. He prepared chariots and horsemen and 50 men to run before him (v.5). He was imitating the pride of his brother Absalom, who had tried to dethrone his father David and came to an end in shame and disgrace (2 Sam.18). This ought to have been sufficient warning to Adonijah, but caution was overshadowed by his pride.

David had not restrained the pride of his son (v.6), perhaps because of his handsome appearance (v.6), as was true of Absalom also. David loved his sons, but neglected the discipline that love should have exercised, and our sinful flesh will always take advantage of lax government.

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 (v.7).

His plans were well thought out, for wanting to include God as one supporting him, he sacrificed sheep, oxen and fatted cattle near to Jerusalem, in the Kidron valley (v.7). Having Abiathar as priest, he could consider these sacrifices appropriate for his purpose. Also, he invited all his brothers, the kings' sons and many servants of David. He marshaled all the support he could possibly find.

David was about 70 years old and extremely feeble. The strenuous life he had led, the exposures and hardships of his youth, the cares and anxieties of his reign, and the chastenings through which he passed on account of his great sin, and much else were responsible for this enfeebled condition. It is but another illustration of that rigid law, What a man soweth that shall he reap. It was a premature decay with the complete loss of natural heat. While the king was in this helpless condition Adonijah (My Lord is Jehovah) exalted himself to be king and like his unhappy brother Absalom he prepared chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run before him. Like Absalom he also was of great physical beauty. There is a significant sentence which reveals the weakness of David towards his favorite children, a weakness which has borne its sad fruits in many families. "And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so?" There had been no discipline in David's family; he had spared the rod. By right of primogeniture he thought of claiming the throne. However, he must have known that his younger brother Solomon had been selected by David to fill the throne after him. But Adonijah knew not the Lord nor was he subject to His will. In his selfish ambition he was upheld by Joab and Abiathar, the priest. No doubt but both of these men sought their own interests; Joab to continue in his position he held with David; Abiathar to get supremacy over Zadok his rival in the priesthood. But Zadok the priest, who ministered at Gibeon (1 Chron. 16:39), Benaiah, who had charge of the Cherethites and Pelethites (2 Sam. 8:18), Nathan, the faithful prophet, Shimei (not the one who cursed David), Rei and David's mighty men kept aloof from the revolt. They remained true to Jehovah and to His anointed. Then Adonijah made a sacrificial feast to give his self-exaltation a religious air. He invited all the king's sons, his brethren, and the men of Judah; but Nathan, Benaiah, David's mighty men and his brother Solomon were not called. It was meant to be his coronation. In this revolt, preceding the enthronement of God's king, Solomon, the king of peace, we have another foreshadowing of what will precede the reign of the Prince of Peace, our Lord. It seemed as if Adonijah might succeed. But Nathan, the prophet, begins to act. In agreement with the mother of Solomon the plan is made to discover what Adonijah had done to the aged King. Bath-sheba goes in first and after a while Nathan appeared to tell the King the same story he had heard from the lips of his wife. She reminded David of his oath, that Solomon her son was to be the successor to the throne, and after telling him of Adonijah's act, she appealed to him to proclaim now who was to sit upon the throne. She speaks to him repeatedly as "My lord the King." And when Nathan appeared before David he also said, "My lord O King." Some have gathered from this that aged David had become filled with the pride of life. However, the honour done to him may have been true reverence for the Lord's anointed King.

It is clear that the Books of Kings are the natural consequence and successors, if I may so say, of the Books of Samuel; so much so that they are, in some copies of the scriptures, all classed as Books of Kings. But here we have David approaching his end; and the eldest of his sons that then survived — Adonijah — takes advantage of the king's infirmity for his own ambitious purpose. There was no fear of God in this. For it was well known in the house of David, and in the land of Israel, that as God chose David from the midst of his brethren, so He had been pleased also to designate Solomon for the throne of Israel. Hence, therefore, it was not only human ambition, but we learn this very serious lesson for our souls — that the indulgence of what is fleshly assumes a graver character in us than in the people of God in their measure, of old; in us still more now. It was not mere ambition in Adonijah. In one totally ignorant of the word of God and the will of Jehovah for Israel, it would have been ambition. But if we have an incomparable blessing in the word of God, we have a greatly increased responsibility, and further, sin acquires a new character. The sin of Adonijah was not merely therefore ambition; not merely, even, rebellion against the king, against David; it was rebellion against Jehovah. It was a direct act of setting himself in contradiction of the declared and revealed purpose of God.

The revelation of a divine purpose arouses the opposition of the Devil, and he labours forthwith to frustrate the accomplishment of it. 1 Chronicles 22 describes an important gathering in Jerusalem when David made it known that Solomon, although one of his youngest sons, was Jehovah's choice for the throne. He forthwith charged him to build a house for God (how delighted would David have been to have built it himself!); and he also charged all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son (1 Chron. 22:17). The young man was then solemnly enthroned.

It was after this, and thus in full knowledge of the purpose of God, that "Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king," and in his vanity "prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him" (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 that we should always say, "if the Lord will … we shall 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.

All who have been born of the Spirit should abhor the restlessness of flesh in every form, and find delight in doing the will of God. The Man Christ Jesus is our perfect example of will-lessness. When He came into the world He said, "I delight to do Thy will, O my God" (Psalm 40:8); in the night of His sorrow He desired only the will of the Father to be done (Matt. 26:39); and in the midst of His service He told the people around Him, "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me" (John 6:38). Every bit of self-will in which we indulge savours not of Christ, but of Antichrist.

Adonijah was apparently a "spoilt child." The Holy Spirit says, "His father had not displeased him at any time in saying Why hast thou done so? and he was also a very goodly man" (1 Kings 1:6). The handsome Absalom, slightly his senior, was similarly treated by David. Good-looking children are in special danger when in the hands of foolish parents. The wise king's words in Proverbs 19:18 are true for all time: "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying." There are many broken hearts amongst God's saints due to the neglect of parental discipline; and the dishonour to the name of the Lord is still more serious, for the house of the Christian should be like to the house of God, where the divine will alone should be done.

Adonijah's usurpation was short-lived. So will it be with the sinister figure of whom he was a pitiful foreshadow. When self-will rises to its full height, and man proclaims himself God, judgement will fall speedily. Solomon appears to have been quiescent while the rebellion was in progress. It was his father who acted against the aggressor. In like manner the Christ of God looks with long patience at what His enemies are doing, but He will make no move until the Father gives the word. Ultimately Adonijah perished by command of Solomon; and the man of sin will be destroyed by the "breath of the lips" of the One against whom he will exalt himself (Isa. 11:4; 2 Thess. 2:8).

It is sad to see Adonijah, David's fourth son, following the bad example set by his older brother, Absalom. Vanity and pride and a lack of parental firmness in discipline led him to exalt himself. Against God's express word that Solomon was to be king and David's command to the princes of Israel to help Solomon, he now attempted to secure the throne, even drawing some of David's long-time followers into his plans and preparations. How tragic when parents let their children do as they please, never holding them to account. What a dreadful harvest such sowing brings!

ADONIJAH EXECUTED (vs.13-25)

Adonijah was not a changed man in spite of his having submitted to Solomon. After David's death he came to Bathsheba (v.13). She was on her guard, wondering if he came peaceably, but she was not sufficiently on guard. Adonijah was like many religious people today, who 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? Natural thought might have expected the eldest son to succeed his father, but Adonijah knew that the Lord had chosen Solomon as king (v.15). Yet he had thought he might defeat the Lord's choice by gathering people after him. His words to Bathsheba show that he had not in heart submitted to Solomon and therefore could not be trusted.

He asked Bathsheba to intercede for him to ask Solomon that he would allow Adonijah to take Abishag as his wife. He thought Bathsheba's intercession would be effective with Solomon (vs.16-17). Bathsheba did not discern the dangers of such a suggestion, and was led more by a sympathetic nature than by cautious wisdom to agree to intercede for him (v.18) She ought to have simply reported to Solomon what Adonijah had said, rather than telling him she had only a small petition to make, urging him not to deny her request (vs.19-20). But Solomon also was too quick to assure his mother before hearing her request, that he would not refuse it.

When she made her request, he positively refused it, for he recognized that Adonijah was still desirous of having the kingdom. Bathsheba had thought it was a small matter, but Solomon discerned the spirit behind the request, which was a deeply significant matter. He found he could not keep his word to his mother, and instead decided that Adonijah must die, so that he would pose no threat to Solomon's authority (vs.23-24). He appointed Benaiah as the executioner, who immediately killed Adonijah.

Towards the end of David’s life, Zadok’s faithfulness was, once more, ‘tried with fire’ (1 Pet. 1:7), like gold. David was aged, very weak and looked after by Abishag (1 Ki. 1:1–4). At this time, Adonijah (son of David and brother of Absalom) ‘exalted himself’, saying, ‘I will be king’ (v. 5) although David had sworn that Solomon was to be his successor (vs. 13, 30). At this point we see a remarkable difference between the two priests, Zadok and Abiathar. So far, both had repeatedly been mentioned together and as being on David’s side: at the time of Absalom’s rebellion (2 Sam. 8:17; 15:24, 29, 35; 19:11) as well as at the time of Sheba’s rebellion (2 Sam. 20:25). But now the time has come for the wheat to be separated from the chaff: Adonijah ‘conferred with Joab … and with Abiathar …: and they following Adonijah helped him’ (1 Kings 1:7). Most likely, they were driven by ambition and relied on the prospect of positions and favours if they helped Adonijah to power (whereas Solomon, if he were to become king, would not owe them anything). How refreshing to read in the next verse: ‘But Zadok the priest, … and the mighty men whom David had, were not with Adonijah’. Again, Zadok is on the right side — this time in contrast to his colleague-priest Abiathar. Zadok was not swayed by the ‘very comely man’ Adonijah but marked by faith allegiance to David.

David now married, and had two wives, both of them, probably, of the tribe of Judah, for there was a town, named Jezreel, in Judah, not far from Maon and Carmel (Joshua 15:55-56), from which it is likely Abinoam came. By her he had Amnon, whose history is connected with the sorrows of his house. By Abigail he had Daniel, or Chillab, of whom we read nothing. He probably died young, for, on Amnon's death, Absalom, the third son, looked forward to the throne. After Absalom's wretched end, Adonijah, the fourth son, regarded the throne as his right by birth. The Lord did build David a sure house, but Abigail had no share in the building of it.