The king showed his surprise at his mother’s request for Adonijah by the question he asked, Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah?
There is perhaps another reason for the question. Leviticus 18:11 forbade sexual intimacy with the wife of your father (the phrase implying that it was other than your mother to which the law referred). Did the death of one’s father abrogate the prohibition? I think not!
Regardless of the previous observation, Solomon showed that he understood the danger of the request. Moreover, in his response, he includes reasons for us to acknowledge the danger, even if, as some have suggested, the request was innocent on Adonijah’s part. By the reference to Job and Abiathar, Solomon showed why it was actually a request for a thing that would have given the kingdom to Adonijah.
Joab knew that he was in danger of execution and so did Abiathar. Adonijah’s possession of the late king’s wife would have given them a golden opportunity to renew the rebellion, even had this plan not entered Adonijah’s head himself. Can we imagine that he would not have grasped the opportunity?
Yet the suggestion that Adonijah was perfectly without evil motive in asking for the woman is highly improbable. It is at one with the suggestion that Solomon was essentially a vengeful and bloodthirsty man, and that is a suggestion that belies the reason that he, instead of David, was allowed to build the temple. David, in his many battles, was a man of blood,
but Solomon was a man of peace
(1 Chronicles 22:8–10).
22 King Solomon answered his mother, “And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my older brother, and on his side are Abiathar the priest and Joab the son of Zeruiah.”