King David’s family history had lots of fascinating and intriguing antics. They can be found in the books of 2 Samuel and Chronicles. David had a total of 19 sons by his many different wives. While he was in Hebron six of them were born. The rest of his 13 sons and some daughters including Tamar were born to him in Jerusalem. Amnon was the eldest, whose mother was Ahinoam. Sadly, Amnon was a lustful man. He eyed his half-sister Tamar and hatched a plot and raped her. Because David did nothing to punish him, her brother Absalom took matters into his own hand and murdered Amnon. Both Absalom and Tamar had the same mother. They were born to David by Maacah, one of his other wives. In the order of birth, Absalom was third in line. He was also the one who attempted to usurp the father’s throne through a revolt. But his revolt was short-lived. And he was killed by Joab, David’s army commander.
Second
Samuel 3:3 reveals that David had another son by the name of Chileab. He was
born to the king by Abigail, the widow of Nabal whom David took as a wife after
her husband’s death. In the Bible, nothing much was mentioned about Chileab,
who was also known as Daniel. Adonijah was David’s fourth son by Haggith his
fifth wife. He was a very handsome man who was born after Absalom. He is
the subject of our discussion today. First Kings 1:6 suggests that David was
not a very disciplined father. He had been lenient with this son and had at
no time shown his displeasure with whatever he had done. That gave us
the hint why Adonijah was so audacious to attempt at seizing the throne. Bear
in mind that David did not name a successor and was too weak to rule. With the
death of Amnon and Absalom, Adonijah presumed that he would be next in line for
the throne. So he declared to himself saying, “I will be king.”
According
to verse 7, Joab the commander of David’s army, and Abiathar the priest, agreed
to help him after he had conferred with them. However, verse 8 tells us that
Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet
and Shimei and Rei and David's mighty men were not with Adonijah.
This indicates to us that these were not supportive of Adonijah to succeed
David as king of Israel. So when he held a sacrificial feast, probably to make
himself the next king, he invited all his brothers and the royal officials
of Judah to the event. But he left Nathan the prophet, Benaiah
and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother out. The reason he left
Solomon out as he knew that David had the intention to make the latter his successor.
From 1 Kings 1:17, we confirm this fact.
Adonijah's
attempt to seize the throne was largely David’s making. He was too chill as a
father. Being lenient and indulgent he had unwittingly contributed to
Adonijah’s self-conceit. If he had been more assertive this could have been
avoided. This is one thing we fathers must be more careful about. We must manage our
God-granted role better as heads of our families. Secondly, we learn
that if we are in positions of influence, we must be objective. Joab and
Abiathar could have counseled Adonijah more wisely, but they didn’t. By
supporting him in his attempt to seize the throne, they were abetting him in
his revolt. We must seek to be better mentors and influence people who turn to
us for advice and support. Thirdly, Adonijah's decision to leave out some key
characters to the sacrificial feast he held at En-rogel leaves us suspicious.
The sacrificial feast he held was an attempt to bribe his way to the position.
He knew that he would never have the approval of Nathan, Benaiah, David’s
mighty men, and Solomon, so he left them out. When the people who should be
included in our plans are deliberately left out, then we have an issue with
integrity. To leave no room for people to question us, we must exercise
integrity in all that we do. So, Adonijah sought a position that was not meant
for him. We must not emulate him by seeking a position deceitfully.
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