When Adonijah asks Bathsheba to get Abishag as his wife, this is clearly another attempt to usurp the throne from Solomon. In the ancient world, laying with the king’s concubines, as the Scriptures would put it, was a way of saying “I have taken what belongs only to the king. It’s mine now because I am the true king.” Now, Abishag didn’t know King David carnally, but she did keep him warm in his bed, certainly an intimate, wifely act. And so, when Adonijah asks to receive her as his wife, this is a raiding-the-harem kind of request. He wants as his wife this woman who was like a wife to his father so that he can bolster his claim to be the true king over Solomon. Quite simply, he’s not done rebelling against the king. And for his troubles, he is put to death.
Now Adonijah has clearly demonstrated for a second time that he would kill Solomon the second he had the power to do so, so Solomon is justified in putting him put to death. But we shouldn’t forget that Adonijah is still Solomon’s brother, half-brother, technically, but still the son of the same father, the same king, the same one chosen by God to have a kingdom that will be established forever and one of his sons sitting upon it. So here we have brother pitted against brother. We have a bloody, miserable conflict waged in an attempt to gain or keep the throne that doesn’t really belong to either of them, the throne that will ultimately find its occupier in Jesus Christ.
Don’t war with your brothers in this life over perishable things. When you are Solomon, forgive, show mercy. Give up your pride to keep your brother. When you are Adonijah, stop telling yourself that you’ll finally be content when you take what someone else has, be that his possessions, or reputation or power or honor. The temporal thrones of this life won’t give you salvation. They won’t give you peace. So when you are restless and angry as war surrounds those temporal thrones, look to Christ and you’ll find peace.
When you warred against Him not one or twice but countless times, your brother Jesus Christ didn’t put you to the sword. He took the sword for you, took the nails, the crown of the thorns. When you repeatedly tried to take the power and the honor of your Brother, your Brother was only content to take one thing from you–your sin. And He did. He forgave your sins with the blood that you spilled from His veins. He clothed you in His righteousness. He added you to the royal family of God and invited you to take a seat of honor at the eternal feast that is both his feast and yours. Don’t war over the temporal thrones of this life. You’ve already been given eternal access to the only throne that will last, the throne of your Brother, your Savior, your King, Jesus Christ.
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