{"id":61414,"date":"2019-08-19T15:13:56","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T12:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=61414"},"modified":"2023-03-13T15:46:35","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T13:46:35","slug":"adonijahs-scheme-to-ascend-the-throne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/adonijahs-scheme-to-ascend-the-throne\/","title":{"rendered":"Adonijah\u2019s Scheme To Ascend The Throne"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[473,834,835],"acf":{"old_id":"61414","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33692,"related_cahpter":"288","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"With unmistakable echoes of Absalom\u2019s similar challenge\u00a0","content":"

The problem presented at the outset of our chapter is the inability of the aged and ailing King David to get warm. The resolution is found in the appointment of Abishag as a “companion.” Is this the simplest way to meet David’s medical needs? Furthermore, why was a search made of the entire country in order to find this young lady?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One explanation is that the opening paragraph regarding Abishag may be setting a political tone to the chapter. In the opening verses (1:2), an anonymous group of courtiers are mentioned. A key to identifying them is their reappearance in verse 9, where it appears that these “servants,” are in fact aligned with Adonijah. The proposal for a public, nationwide search for a woman to warm the sick King David’s bed emerging from the headquarters of the Adonijah faction suggests that it is initiated as a publicity technique, a strategy in the campaign to crown Adonijah as king. This national beauty contest announces loud and clear that David cannot maintain his body temperature. The message is simple \u2014 the king is dying and a new one must be crowned, with urgency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This cynical opportunism typifies the character of Adonijah. Adonijah is referenced explicitly (v.5) and obliquely as a reflection of Absalom, the man who murdered his brother Amnon in a calculated act of family vengeance, the infamous renegade who sought to depose his father David.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are several points of comparison between Adonijah and Absalom:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Both have impressive good looks (I Kgs 1:5 and II Sam.14:25).<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Both instigate a mutiny during their father\u2019s lifetime.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Each is the heir to the throne at the time of his self-coronation.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Adonijah uses David\u2019s ailments and the search for Abishag to make him seem infirm. In a similar manner, Absalom paves the way to his self-coronation and raises public support by discrediting David\u2019s sense of justice (II Sam. 15:2\u20136).<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Both make for themselves \u201cchariots and horses and an escort of fifty runners\u201d (I Kings 1:5 and II Sam. 15:1).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Absalom\u2019s crude act of intimacy with his father\u2019s concubines (II Sam. 16:20\u201322) parallels Adonijah\u2019s eventual request to marry Abishag (I Kgs 2:13\u201322).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In equating Absalom and Adonijah, our chapter is directing us to a similarly unfavorable assessment of Adonijah as a person who cannot be trusted, and an unscrupulous schemer. This man is unfit to be king of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Alex Israel, 1 Kings: Torn in Two<\/em>, Maggid Books, 2013, \u201c<\/span>Race to the Throne,\u201d by courtesy of the author<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":61437,"id":61437,"title":"alex israel - kings 1","filename":"alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/adonijahs-scheme-to-ascend-the-throne\/alex-israel-kings-1\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"alex-israel-kings-1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":61414,"date":"2019-08-19 12:13:44","modified":"2019-08-19 12:13:53","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1020,"height":1304,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-235x300.jpg","medium-width":235,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-768x982.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":982,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-801x1024.jpg","large-width":801,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1020,"1536x1536-height":1304,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1020,"2048x2048-height":1304,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-939x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":939,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-329x420.jpg","home_baner-width":329,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Excerpts from: 1 Kings - 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