1 Kings 1:5-10 – The need to live with integrity

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.