1 Kings 2:13
And Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, Comest thou peaceably? And he said, Peaceably. And Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, Comest thou peaceably? And he said, Peaceably.
This verse belongs to the history of the undivided kingdom under Solomon, covering the transition from David's final days to Solomon's accession and reign. It stands within the account of Solomon's succession, in which Adonijah tried to secure the throne by taking advantage of David's old age, but Nathan's prudent intervention, knowing the Lord's will and the king's mind, helped stop the plan and secure Solomon's crowning and accession. In the events surrounding that accession the throne passed to Solomon peaceably, Adonijah's supporters dispersed in fear, and Adonijah himself sought mercy at the altar and was pardoned at first.
The verse records Adonijah son of Haggith coming to Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon, and in answer to her question whether he came peaceably assuring her that he came peaceably. That coming opens the final settling after his unholy ambition to seize the throne. His coming was followed by a request that was a shrewd plot to obtain the kingdom, since possessing the former king's concubine could give him a strong claim among the fickle people.
His plot was defeated and ended in his overthrow and death, for he was slain for a further offense against the king. The disloyal Joab was also slain, and Shimei, who had cursed David, was put to death for failing to abide by his conditions of life. The episode is part of the subsequent history of David showing the judgments and divine retribution that followed his transgression involving Uriah, fulfilling Nathan's denunciation and bringing continuing trouble within his household through the rest of his life and principally in his own family. It stands alongside the sad history of Amnon and Tamar and the rebellion and unnatural crimes of Absalom.
In this way the verse proves that wrongdoing brings calamity and sorrow upon the wrongdoer, that the very kind of evil done to others comes back upon himself, that what a man sows that he shall reap, and that sin never pays except in its own kind.