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CHAPTER 4 : Adonijah’s attempt to seize the throne — anointing of
Solomon — great assembly of the chiefs of the people — dying charge of
David — Adonijah’s second attempt and punishment — execution of Joab
and of Shimei 1 KINGS 1, 2; 1 CHRONICLES 23:1, 28-29
THE history of David, as told in the Book of Chronicles, closes with an account of
what, in its bearing on the theocracy, was of greatest importance, the public charge to
Solomon in regard to the building of the Temple and the preparations for the work. On
the other hand, the Book of Kings^69 takes up the thread of prophetic history where the
previous writers had dropped it. The birth of Solomon had been the beginning of the
fulfillment of that glorious promise (2 Samuel 7:12-16), which gave its spiritual
meaning and import to the institution of royalty in Israel. And the promises and the
warnings embodied in that prediction form, so to speak, the background of the whole
later history of the people of God.
Naturally, the first event recorded in this history is the formal installation of Solomon
as the God-appointed successor of David (2 Samuel 7:12; 12:25; 1 Kings 8:20; 1
Chronicles 28:5-7). It was somewhat hastened by an incident which, like so many
others that caused trouble in Israel, must ultimately be traced to the weakness of David
himself. It has already been noticed, in the history of Amnon and in that of Absalom, to
what length David carried his indulgence towards his children, and what terrible
consequences resulted from it. Both Amnon and Absalom had died violent deaths. A
third son of David, Chileab, whose mother was Abigail, seems also to have died. At
least, so we infer from the silence of Scripture concerning him. These were the three
eldest sons of David. The next in point of age was Adonijah the son of Haggith (2
Samuel 3:2-4). Like his elder brother, Amnon, he had been born in Hebron;^70 like
Absalom, he was distinguished by personal attractions. But he also, as Amnon and
Absalom, had all his life been fatally indulged by David. In the expressive language of
Holy Scripture, "his father had not made him sorry all his days, saying, Why hast thou
done so?" (1 Kings 1:6.)
The consequence may be easily guessed. By right of primogeniture the succession to
the throne seemed his. Why, then, should he not attempt to seize upon a prize so
covered? His father had, indeed, sworn to Bathsheba that Solomon should be his
successor (1 Kings 1:13, 30), and that on the ground of express Divine appointment;
and the prophet Nathan (ver. 11), as well as the leading men in Church and State, not
only knew (as did most people in the land), but heartily concurred in it. But what
mattered this to one who had never learned to subject his personal desires to a higher
will? This supposed Divine appointment of his younger brother might, after all, have
been only a matter of inference to David, and Nathan and Bathsheba have turned it to
account, the one because of the influence which he possessed over Solomon, the other
(^)