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1 Kings 1:41-53 | Bible Study

Adonijah's Coup Fails

Adonijah is in Trouble

1 Kings 1 is a long chapter filled with drama.

It begins with Adonijah seizing upon David's old age (1 Kings 1:1-4), and attempting to take the throne for himself (1 Kings 1:5-10).

Nathan and Bathshebe successfully undermine Adonijah's attempted coup when they "remind" David of his promise to make Solomon king (1 Kings 1:11-27).

After a ritual ceremony, the key figures Adonijah left out of his coup install Solomon as king (1 Kings 1:28-40).

The result... Adonijah's coup fails and he scrambles to survive.

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1 Kings 1:41-53 (NRSV) with highlights.

41 Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished feasting. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “Why is the city in an uproar?” 42 While he was still speaking, Jonathan son of the priest Abiathar arrived. Adonijah said, “Come in, for you are a worthy man and surely you bring good news.” 43 Jonathan answered Adonijah, “No, for our lord King David has made Solomon king; 44 the king has sent with him the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and they had him ride on the king’s mule; 45 the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan have anointed him king at Gihon; and they have gone up from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise that you heard. 46 Solomon now sits on the royal throne. 47 Moreover the king’s servants came to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May God make the name of Solomon more famous than yours, and make his throne greater than your throne.’ The king bowed in worship on the bed 48 and went on to pray thus, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who today has granted one of my offspring to sit on my throne and permitted me to witness it.’ ”

49 Then all the guests of Adonijah got up trembling and went their own ways. 50 Adonijah, fearing Solomon, got up and went to grasp the horns of the altar. 51 Solomon was informed, “Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon; see, he has laid hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not kill his servant with the sword.’ ” 52 So Solomon responded, “If he proves to be a worthy man, not one of his hairs shall fall to the ground; but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” 53 Then King Solomon sent to have him brought down from the altar. He came to do obeisance to King Solomon; and Solomon said to him, “Go home.”

The Difference between this passage and the rest of 1 Kings 1

In this passage, Adonijah discovers that his coup failed. He tried to take the throne while his father was weakened with old age. Nathan and Bathsheba countered his move by appealing directly to the king. Adonijah mistook David’s senility as permission to make his move without the king’s endorsement. That was his fatal flaw.

In the previous passages, Solomon was nothing more than a pawn in everyone else’s game. The reader knows he is waiting in the wings, but he never actually does anything. In the final scene of the chapter, this changes. Solomon takes center stage. He becomes king and must decide what to do with his older brother, Adonijah.

Solomon's Surprising Decision

As we will see in the next chapter, Solomon is not opposed to violence. He’s not even opposed to killing someone who is holding onto an altar (1 Kings 2:29).

It’s surprising then that he allows Adonijah to live. Notice, however, that Solomon reserves the right to kill Adonijah at a later time.

We may want to think that being a “worthy man” (v. 52) has to do with some spiritual status, but Solomon’s concern is whether or not Adonijah will prove loyal to him politically. We see Adonijah use the same word when he anticipates Jonathan has good news for him (v. 42).

Summary

This scene is terrifying if you think about it from Adonijah’s perspective. He went from a moment of victory to sheer terror. Just when he thought he had secured the throne, he discovered that he might have ensured his death. Everyone around Adonijah knows what to do: run.

So, Adonijah runs to the altar and hopes for mercy. Surprisingly, Solomon offers him the opportunity to live if he will only prove to be a worthy man.

It’s at this point that we are tempted to look for some spiritual insight from this passage. If we stop here, we might talk about the virtue of showing mercy or the vice of seizing power. Both lessons are valuable, but I do not think they are best learned from 1 Kings 1.

Instead, I think we should be more patient. We should let the story play out some more before we decide what it means. 1 Kings 1 is the opening movement in a huge book (or two in our English Bibles). It’s setting the stage for the rest of the book. We can’t hope to interpret it properly until we have a better grasp of its larger context. That’s why we’ll continue studying 1 and 2 Kings.

Recommended Resources

This blog post is a part of the Passage of the Week. Join the email list to get guided study notes sent to your inbox every Monday and Friday.

Check out the notes for this passage here and here.

Here are a couple of commentaries you might find helpful on the book of Kings.

Wray Beal, Lissa M. 1 & 2 Kings. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2014.

Leithart, Peter J. 1 & 2 Kings. Grand Rapids, Mich: Brazos Press, 2006.

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