- 39-
such feelings on the part of David, it is impossible to read his parting directions and
suggestions to Solomon without disappointment and pain. Truly, even the most
advanced of the "children were in bondage under the elements of the world" (Galatians
4:3).
How far did the type fall short of the reality, and how dim and ill-defined were the
foreshadowings of Him, "Who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He
suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously!"
And yet events soon proved that David's apprehensions had been only too well
grounded. The aged king died, and was buried in his own "City of David," amidst the
laments of a grateful nation, which ever afterwards cherished his memory (Acts 2:29).
It seems that Adonijah, although obliged to submit to Solomon's rule, had not given up
all hope of his own ultimate accession. The scheme which he conceived for this
purpose lacked, indeed, the courage of open rebellion, but was characterized by the
cunning and trickery of a genuine Oriental intrigue. To marry any of the late king's
wives or concubines was considered in the East as publicly claiming his rights (2
Samuel 12:8; 16:21, 22). If such were done by a rival, it would be regarded as implying
an insult to which not even the weakest monarch could submit without hopelessly
degrading his authority in public opinion (2 Samuel 3:7). If Adonijah's primary object
was to lower Solomon in public estimate, and that in a manner which he could neither
resist nor resent, no better scheme could have been devised than that of his application
for the hand of Abishag. By combined flattery and parade of his supposed wrongs and
injuries, he gained the queen-mother as unconscious accomplice and even instrument
of his intrigue. Any scruples might be set aside by the plea, that there could be no
wrong in his request, since, in the strict sense, Abishag had neither been the wife nor
the concubine of David. To punish with death so cunning and mean an intrigue can
scarcely be called excessive severity on the part of Solomon. It was rather a measure
necessary, if tranquillity was to be preserved in the land, all the more that, by his own
admission, Adonijah still entertained the opinion that rightfully the kingdom was his,
and that "all Israel set their faces on him that he should reign" (1 Kings 2:15).
Whether or not Abiathar and Joab were involved in this intrigue, is matter of
uncertainty. At any rate an attempt so daring, and coming so soon after that in which
these two had taken a leading part, called for measures which might prevent rebellion
in the future, and serve as warning to the turbulent in Israel. That Joab felt conscious
his conduct deserved the severest punishment, appears from the circumstance that he
anticipated his sentence. On hearing of Adonijah's execution, he sought refuge within
the sacred precincts of the Tabernacle. It would have been not only a dangerous
precedent, but contrary to the express direction of the law (Exodus 21:12;
Deuteronomy 19:11-13), to have allowed a criminal by such means to escape justice.
However, it was not for his part in Adonijah's recent schemes that Joab now suffered
(^)