1Ki 2:13-25 | Clarke

1 Kings 2:13-25

Verse 15

Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine - It certainly was his by the right of primogeniture, and it was his by the voice of the people, and the consent of the high priest. But there was a right paramount to all these, the right of God; it was his kingdom; the kings were his lieutenants, and he had a right to give the crown to whomsoever he pleased, and he was pleased to give it to Solomon. Verse 17

That he give me Abishag - to wife - He cheerfully gives up all right to the kingdom, and only desires to have this young woman, who, though she had been his father's wife or concubine, was still in a state of virginity. Some think that Joab and Abiathar had advised Adonijah to make this application, not doubting, if he got Abishag, that the popular tide would again turn in his favor, and that Solomon, whom they did not like, might soon be deposed; and that it was on this account that Solomon was so severe. But there is little evidence to support these conjectures. It does not appear that Adonijah by desiring to have Abishag had any thought of the kingdom, or of maintaining any right to it, though Solomon appears to have understood him in this sense. But without farther evidence, this was a flimsy pretext to imbrue his hands in a brother's blood. The fable of the wolf and lamb is here very applicable, and the old English proverb not less so: It is an easy thing to find a staff to beat a dog with. We readily find an excuse for whatever we are determined to do. He who attempts to varnish over this conduct of Solomon by either state necessity or a Divine command, is an enemy, in my mind, to the cause of God and truth. See on 1Kgs 2:25 (note). Verse 25

Solomon sent - Benaiah - and he fell upon him that he died. - Benaiah seems to have been the public state executioner, and yet he was generalissimo of all the forces. See him employed in a similar work, 1Kgs 2:34 (note), 1Kgs 2:46 (note). I suppose him to have been such another general as Suwarrow, butcher-general of the Turks and Poles to the late Empress Catharine of Russia: like mistress, like man. But they have long since been called to an impartial tribunal.

That this was an act of cruelty towards Adonijah, needs no proof. He is suspected, condemned, and slain, without a hearing. Calmet vindicates all this by various assumptions, and lays down a doctrine that is calculated for the meridian of Fez or Morocco; hear him: Un prince, dans ses jugemens, ne peut pas toujours suivre les regles de la plus parfaite morale; la politique, et le bien de l'etat, obligent souvent a des choses opposees aux conseils de l'evangile; "A prince in his judgments cannot always follow the rules of the most perfect morality; policy and the good of the state often require things to be done which are contrary to the counsels of the Gospel." What a diabolic maxim is this! And is this indeed the way that French kings ruled and ministers decreed judgment? Then we need not wonder at a revolution in that state, nor of the scourge that desolated the land. O England! magnify God for your constitution, your constitutional king, and the laws according to which he reigns.