Summary

Adonijah, in the absence of the support of the men mentioned in 1 Kings 1:8, proceeded with his plan to become king. For this purpose, he went to a place near En-rogel, which is not far from Jerusalem—more specifically, it was by the Serpent’s Stone. At the time of the writing of this portion of 1 Kings it was a place that was well known. There Adonijah sacrificed many animals, but nothing suggests that these were substitutionary sin offerings. Instead, they were probably supposed to be thanksgiving offerings and provide the food for a meal to celebrate Adonijah’s accession to the throne.

We are also given part of the guest list. First listed are all of his brothers, but we find out in the next verse that there was one exception: Solomon. It may be, and probably is, that these brothers were invited so that they could be publicly seen by their actions to give up any claim they might make to the throne. Any who failed to attend would by the refusal mark themselves for extermination, since in the ancient Middle East it was the practice of newly reigning monarchs to execute any rivals for the throne. By attending, David’s other sons were attempting to save their lives because Adonijah had an impressive power base that appeared to be irresistible to them.

Next mentioned are all the royal officials of Judah. Again, we find out in the next verse that there is also one exception to this list: Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada. Why are the royal officials on the guest list limited to those of the tribe of Judah? At least one Bible scholar has suggested that this shows that Adonijah was committed to the past, that is, when David was king of Judah in Hebron, rather than being committed to the present with all of the twelve tribes having an interest in the kings as he reigned in Jerusalem.¹ This, of course, is an inference drawn and nothing that is directly confirmed by the text. Yet, without such a suggestion, we are still left with the question of the restriction of the royal officials to those of Judah. If these men had refused the invitation, they also would have been in danger of losing their positions of power and, possibly, their lives.

In these details more aspects of Adonijah’s character are displayed. First, he showed himself to view the kingship as a political matter to be engineered according to his ambition. He also showed his ruthlessness in his willingness to eliminate those whom he conceived to be in his way, even if they were closely related to him. If he had become king, these matters would have displayed him in the mold of the pagan kings of the surrounding nations. The true King, Jesus Christ, exhibited, on the contrary, a servant leadership as he declares, the Son of Man came to serve, not to be served (Mark 10:45).