1 Kings 2:7-17

7 "Show loyalty to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite and let them be among those who eat at your table because they supported me when I fled from your brother Absalom.[a]
8 "Keep an eye on Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim who is with you. He uttered malicious curses against me the day I went to Mahanaim. But he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, and I swore to him by the Lord: 'I will never kill you with the sword.'[b]
9 So don't let him go unpunished, for you are a wise man. You know how to deal with him to bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood."
10 Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.
11 The [length of] time David reigned over Israel was 40 years: he reigned seven years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem.
12 Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingship was firmly established.[c]

Adonijah's Foolish Request

13 Now Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. She asked, "Do you come peacefully?" "Peacefully," he replied,
14 and then asked, "May I talk with you?"[d] "Go ahead," she answered.
15 "You know the kingship was mine," he said. "All Israel expected me to be king, but then the kingship was turned over to my brother, for the Lord gave it to him.
16 So now I have just one request of you; don't turn me down."[e] She said to him, "Go on."
17 He replied, "Please speak to King Solomon since he won't turn you down. Let him give me Abishag the Shunammite[f] as a wife."

1 Kings 2:7-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST KING 2

This chapter gives an account of the charge David gave to his son Solomon, a little before his death, to walk in the ways of the Lord, 1Ki 2:1-4; and of some instructions delivered to him concerning some particular persons he should either show favour to, or execute justice on, 1Ki 2:5-9; and the next account in it is concerning his death and burial, and the years of his reign, 1Ki 2:10,11; after which it relates an address of Bathsheba to Solomon in favour of Adonijah, which was refused, and the issue of it was his death, 1Ki 2:12-25; and the deposition of Abiathar from the priesthood, 1Ki 2:26,27; and the putting of Joab to death for his treason and murders, 1Ki 2:28-34; in whose post Benaiah was put, as Zadok was in the place of Abiathar, 1Ki 2:35; and lastly the confinement of Shimei in Jerusalem, who had cursed David, 1Ki 2:36-38; who upon transgressing the orders given him was put to death, 1Ki 2:39-46.

Footnotes 6

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