After Solomon had dealt with Adonijah, he proceeded to address two of his collaborators in the previous power grab. He starts with Abiathar. We may wonder why he began with the priest. This might appear to be in contrast to our expectations, since Joab, as the commander of the army, seems the more dangerous of the two men.
Two explanations seem like possible answers to the question. Abiathar’s position as a leading priest would have given an appearance of divine approval of Adonijah’s succeeding to rule, and in that sense, he was the more dangerous. The second possibility concerns the mitigation (lessening) of punishment. Abiathar was not killed but sent to his own estate in a kind of exile. In this circumstance we observe Solomon exhibiting mercy beyond the deserving, and such a thing shows the problem with the view that Solomon was a vengeful and bloodthirsty man.
Solomon’s address to the priest deals with Abiathar’s guilt. He tells him without any qualification that he deserves to die. 1 Samuel 15:23 tells us that rebellion is as the sin of divination, which was a capital offence under the law, and Abiathar had engaged in rebellion.
Yet Solomon balances the punishment with mercy, and there are two reasons for this. The first reason is that Abiathar had carried the ark of the covenant. It is not entirely clear why this would have led Solomon to exercise mercy. Perhaps it is a manner of acknowledging that as a priest, Abiathar was the Lord’s anointed. The second moderating factor was that Abiathar had shared in David’s afflictions. So, as mentioned above, Solomon sends Abiathar to his home and by so doing imposes a kind of internal exile upon him.
Notable in the king’s language is the phrase, “I will not at this time put you to death.” These words should not be interpreted as meaning that Solomon warned Abiathar that he would be executed at a future date no matter what his behaviour would be. Rather, Solomon was indicating that Abiathar’s life depended upon his abiding by the king’s instructions.
26 And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your estate, for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because you shared in all my father’s affliction.”