Nathan’s approach to David differed from that of David’s wife. Nathan did not mention the oath but asked if David had decreed that Adonijah would succeed him. Why didn’t he mention the oath? The oath, though we have seen that he knew about it, was not made to him but to Bathsheba and Solomon. It was not his place to enforce the terms of an oath that had been given to others.
Unlike the decrees of the later kings of the Medes and the Persians, the decrees of the kings of Israel were not irrevocable. It was conceivable that David changed his mind about the succession. Yet, we may conclude from Nathan’s conversation with Bathsheba that he did not believe that a change had taken place with David. This manner of addressing the situation was another way of raising David’s concern about Adonijah’s action in attempting to seize the kingdom. It is also notable that Nathan, in asking about the king’s possible decree concerning Adonijah, uses words that David had actually used in the oath made concerning Solomon.
This manner of speaking could have been another way to raise in David’s mind the picture of Adonijah as a rebel and usurper.
24 And Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne’?