1 Kings 1-2

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

1: 1-4 - King David was very old and could not get warm no matter how many blankets covered him. So his servants said to him, "Let a young virgin be sought for the king ad be his attendant. Let her lie in your bosom so that my lord the king may be warm." So they searched for a beautiful girl throughout Israel and found Abishag the Shunamite and brought her to the king. She became the king's attendant and served him, but the king did not know her sexually.
1:11-22 - Nathan tells Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, how Adonijah son of Haggith has become king without David knowing it. Nathan tells Bathsheba to go to David and remind him how he promised to make Solomon king and to inform him that Adonijah has now made himself king. After Bathsheba tells David this Nathan will come in and confirm her words. So Bathsheba goes to David and reminds him of his promise and tells him how Adonijah has become king without David knowing, sacrificing animals and inviting all the children of the king, the priet Abiathar and commander Joab to feasts. Solomon was not invited to these feasts and Bathsheba fears they will become outsiders and offenders if Adonijah remains king. Nathan comes in while Bathsheba is still speaking with the king.
1:28-31 - David summons Bathsheba and swears to her that her son Solomon would succeed him as king. Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground and did obeisance to the king and said, "May my lord King David live forever!"

2:13-25 - Adonijah comes to Bathsheba peaceably and requests for her to go to Solomon and ask Solomon to give Adonijah Abishag the Shunamite as a wife. Bathsheba agrees and goes to see King Solomon. She asks to speak to Solomon on Adonijah's behalf. The King rose and bowed to her. The Solomon sat in his throne and had a throne brought for the king's mother and she sat on his right. Bathsheba tells Solomon she has a request and Solomon says that she knows he cannot refuse her. Bathsheba asks if Solomon will give Adonijah the woman Abishag as a wife. Solomon asks why she would request this. "Ask for him the kingdom as well! For he is my elder brother." Solomon cries. King Solomon is so angry at this request that he orders Adonijah be put to death.

My Comments

Much like 2 Samuel 14, we have a woman involved in a plan, but her part is to regurgitate the exact words the man tells her to. The odd part about this one is Bathsheba is told what to say, and after she tells David about Adonijah Nathan comes in and tells David the exact same thing. Why couldn't Nathan just tell David himself? Or why wasn't Bathsheba telling David good enough on it's own? I would imagine Bathsheba telling David of Adonijah's taking of the throne would be enough for David to at least investigate the claim. So why did both of them need to tell David? Seems redundant or it means that it needed to be confirmed twice for David to bother caring about the state of his kingdom.

And the virgin thing at the beginning is kind of creepy. Basically a beautiful virgin was the Biblical version of a heating pad. Just kind of gives me the creeps imagining this old man using a young girl (she would have had to be young since women were married extremely young at the time) basically as a blanket. At least he didn't have sex with her. That would have just been way too much.

Friday: 1 Kings 3-5