1 Kings 2:22

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹²So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was firmly established. ¹³Now Adonijah son of Haggith went to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, who asked, "Do you come in peace?" "Yes, in peace," he replied. ¹⁴Then he said, "I have something to tell you." "Say it," she answered. ¹⁵"You know that the kingship was mine," he said. "All Israel expected that I should reign, but the kingship has turned to my brother, for it has come to him from the LORD. ¹⁶So now I have just one request of you; do not deny me." "State your request," she told him. ¹⁷Adonijah replied, "Please speak to King Solomon, since he will not turn you down. Let him give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife." ¹⁸"Very well," Bathsheba replied. "I will speak to the king for you." ¹⁹So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. The king stood up to greet her, bowed to her, and sat down on his throne. Then the king had a throne brought for his mother, who sat down at his right hand. ²⁰"I have just one small request of you," she said. "Do not deny me." "Make your request, my mother," the king replied, "for I will not deny you." ²¹So Bathsheba said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

why dost: Matthew 20:22, Mark 10:38, James 4:3

the kingdom: 1 Kings 1:5-7, 1 Kings 1:11, 1 Kings 1:24, 1 Kings 1:25

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 18:8 - and what 2 Samuel 3:7 - gone in 2 Samuel 12:8 - thy master's wives 2 Samuel 16:21 - unto thy 1 Kings 1:7 - following Adonijah helped him 1 Kings 1:21 - offenders Mark 2:26 - Abiathar

Cross-References

Genesis 2:8
And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.

Genesis 2:9
Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:19
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

Psalms 127:1
A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.

Proverbs 18:22
He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.

Proverbs 19:14
Houses and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

1 Timothy 2:13
For Adam was formed first, and then Eve.

Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And King Solomon answered and said unto his mother,.... With as much gentleness and mildness as he could, but inwardly fired at her request, and amazed at it, and could not forbear using some degree of tartness and resentment:

and why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? is this a small petition? is this a fit and lawful one?

ask for him the kingdom also; for this is what he means by it, that by marrying the king's widow he may step into the throne whenever any opportunity offers, as any uneasiness, or insurrection in the kingdom, or the death of Solomon; for none but a king, the Jews say b, might marry a king's widow, not any private man; and therefore for Adonijah to ask this was interpreted affecting the kingdom, and aspiring to it, and taking his measures to obtain it; yea, it is said c, that none but another king, the successor, might make use of his servants, handmaids, and ministers; and it is observed, that Abishag was free to Solomon, but not to Adonijah:

for he [is] mine elder brother; and has that to plead in his favour, and if he could obtain this, it would strengthen his title, or at least be a plausible pretence, which he might make use of, when opportunity served, to gain the people to his interest:

even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah; she might as well ask for them as for him; whose interest it was, and therefore desirous it might be that he should be king, that so the one might be continued in the office of high priest, and the other as general of the army; who, Solomon knew, bore him no good will, but were secretly his enemies; and he suspected that this was a scheme of theirs, and that it was by their advice Adonijah made this request; so the Targum,

"are not he, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the son of Zeruiah, in the counsel?''

in this counsel; it is what they had consulted among themselves as a preparation to bring about a design they are contriving; probably Solomon had private notice that they were plotting against him, and this confirmed him in the truth of it; and therefore all of them were upon this punished with deprivation of office, or loss of life.

b Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 2. sect. 2. c Maimon. Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 2. sect. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ask for him the kingdom also - Bath-sheba had not seen anything dangerous or suspicious in Adonijah’s request. Solomon, on the contrary, takes alarm at once. To ask for Abishag was to ask for the kingdom. To the Oriental mind a monarch was so sacred, that whatever was brought near to him was thenceforth separate from common use. This sacred and separate character attached especially to the Royal harem. The inmates either remained widows for the rest of their lives, or became the wives of the deceased king’s successor. When a monarch was murdered, or dethroned, or succeeded by one whose title was doubtful, the latter alternative was almost always adopted (compare 2 Samuel 12:8; 2 Samuel 16:22). Public opinion so closely connected the title to the crown and the possession of the deceased monarch’s wives, that to have granted Adonijah’s request would have been the strongest encouragement to his pretensions. Solomon, seeing this, assumes that Adonijah cherishes a guilty purpose, that there has been a fresh plot, that Abiathar and Joab - Adonijah’s counselors in the former conspiracy 1 Kings 1:7 - are privy to it, and that the severest measures are necessary to crush the new treason.