Podcast Introduction Our reading today is 1 Kings 1-4. I’m calling today’s episode “Another Pretender To the Throne.” Comments on 1 Kings 1-2 Once again we see a member of David’s family trying to grab the throne.  Adonijah knows that David is near death, and he thinks that by being proactive he can take the throne. He knows that Solomon is the one chosen to succeed David, and once David dies it will be too late because Solomon will immediately become king. Solomon was God’s choice to become king. So Adonijah, too clever for his own good, gathers all of his brothers (except Solomon), Joab (the general of the army) and Abiathar (the high priest) and all the other men of Judah to his coronation party. He figures that with all of these men in attendance he’ll have the throne. But the prophet Nathan is a wise man, and he short circuits Adonijah’s plan by letting Bathsheba know what’s going on. There is good evidence that Bathsheba was David’s most loved wife, and she had no problem getting immediate access to David to let him know what was happening. So David told them what to do to squash Adonijah’s plan and make Solomon king post haste. Once Adonijah heard that Solomon was crowned, he rightfully feared for his life, but Solomon showed him grace. King David is dead. Long live King Solomon. David was king for forty years, many of them turbulent. And on his death bed, he gave his young son words of advice. We’re not sure how old Solomon was when he became king, but some scholars believe he might have been as young as twelve years. Others think he was in his twenties. I tend to go with the second opinion. Either way, David told him to stay close to God and follow his commands so that his kingdom would be lasting. And then David give Solomon some directions about some specific people. Joab, who had killed innocent men; the family of Barzillai, who had given David shelter when he was being pursued by Absalom; and Shimei, who had cursed David even though he knew that David was God’s anointed king. Because of our limited time, I’m not going to talk about these folks, but about Adonijah’s request to have Abishag the Shunammite as his wife. Why did Solomon have Adonijah killed for this request? You remember that Adonijah had tried to snake the throne away from Solomon before David died, right? Do you also remember that Abishag was the young girl that had been brought to David to keep him warm? She was his concubine. Sort of a second level wife. We’re told in 1 Kings chapter 1 that David did not have sexual relations with her, but she was his concubine and they had slept together. Adonijah made this request as a play for the throne yet again. He thought that if he could have one of David’s wives as his, this would give him a step up to usurp the throne.  Bathsheba must have known that this was an outrageous thing for Adonijah to ask. Why didn’t she reject Adonijah’s request out of hand? Maybe she thought this would be a way to assuage Adonijah’s disappointment over losing the throne. More likely though, is that she wanted Solomon to know what Adonijah was thinking. She was warning Solomon. And Solomon saw right through Adonijah’s scheme. As long as Adonijah lived, Solomon was in danger, so he ordered Adonijah’s death that very day. Remember that in chapter one, Solomon said, “Adonijah must show that he is a man of honor. If he does that, I promise he will not lose even a single hair from his head. But if he does anything wro