1 KINGS 2:20 — KING JAMES VERSION 0 0
“Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee; I pray thee, say me not nay. And the king said unto her, Ask on, my mother: for I will not say thee nay.”
"But King Solomon answered his mother, 'And why do you ask Abishag the Shunamite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom as well! For he is my elder brother, and has on his side Abiathar the priest and Joab the son of Zeruiah.'" — Solomon's response is a political explosion: *ve-madu'a 'attah shela'at et-Avisag ha-Shunamit le-Adoniyahu gam et-ha-melukhah sha'al lo* (why do you ask Abishag for Adonijah? Ask the kingdom for him as well!). Solomon immediately *interprets* the request as a power play: marriage to Abishag is a *pretext for dynastic reinstatement*. The phrase *ki achi hu hagadol mimeni* (he is my elder brother) invokes the birth-order principle, yet Solomon refuses to accept it as binding. He then *catalogs Adonijah's support*: *ve-l'oto Avyatar ha-kohen veYo'av ben-Tzeruya*—the old guards, the priest and the general. Solomon's reading is that Adonijah seeks to *leverage* Bathsheba's influence to create a political opening.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a note on this verse
0/2000
No notes on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!