1 Kings 2:15
And he said, Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign: howbeit the kingdom is turned about, and is become my brother’s: for it was his from the LORD. And he said, Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign: howbeit the kingdom is turned about, and is become my brother’s: for it was his from the LORD.
Adonijah admitted that the kingdom had been his in expectation, with all Israel favoring him to reign, but that it had turned about to his brother Solomon because it was his from the LORD. His bid for the throne came from unholy ambition that sought to take it from his aged and feeble father, and the plot ended in his own overthrow and death. This trouble in David's final days belonged to the continuing troubles of his later history, fulfilling the word that the sword would never depart from his house. Adonijah's seeking of the kingdom and his resulting death were part of the retribution that came upon David for his wicked conduct toward Uriah, proving that the very evil done to others comes back upon the wrongdoer, for what a man sows he reaps.
Solomon's Succession Acknowledged
The verse is Adonijah's own acknowledgment that the kingdom had been his in expectation, with all Israel setting their faces on him that he should reign. Howbeit the kingdom turned about and became his brother Solomon's, for it was his from the LORD by the Lord's will and appointment. Israel had looked to Adonijah and favored him as king, yet he confesses that what had once been his passed to his brother.
His claim came from unholy ambition that sought to take the throne from his aged and feeble father by taking advantage of David's old age. The plot ended in his own overthrow and death.
In the wider account Adonijah had tried to take the throne, but Solomon was publicly proclaimed and crowned king because the kingdom was his from the LORD. Nathan knew the Lord's will and the king's mind and interfered with Adonijah's plan, while Joab failed in loyalty to his king. David's charge about securing the throne was carried out after David's death.
Adonijah's own acknowledgment shows he knew Solomon had the rightful divine claim, since he confesses the Lord had given the kingdom to him. His later request involving the king's concubine was a shrewd attempt to strengthen his claim to the throne among the people.
A little later Adonijah and Joab were slain. Shimei, who had cursed David during his flight from Jerusalem when Absalom's rebellion had turned most of the people against him and David was in adversity, was also put to death. He failed to abide by his conditions of life, and so received the just reward for his act.
Judgment on David's House
The record belongs among the accounts of David's later history and shows his troubles continuing into his final days. Adonijah attempted to take the throne from his aged, feeble father, and his plot ended in his own overthrow and death. This fulfilled Nathan's words that the sword would never depart from David's house, showing the continuing consequences of David's sin concerning Uriah through judgments that came upon him.
Adonijah's rebellion in seeking the kingdom and his resulting death belong to the retribution that came upon David for his wicked conduct toward Uriah. Suffering followed David all the rest of his life and fell principally in his own family. That family suffering included the sad history of Amnon and Tamar and the rebellion and unnatural crimes of Absalom, with Adonijah's rebellion and death belonging to that same retribution.
Wrongdoing brings calamity and sorrow on the wrongdoer, and the very kind of evil done to others comes back on oneself. What a man sows he reaps, for sin pays in its own kind, and David received back in kind for his wrongs.
Adonijah himself acknowledged that the kingdom had once been his and that Israel had looked to him to reign, but that it had become his brother Solomon's by the Lord's appointment. In the wider account, David's eventual rule over all Israel shows that God selects the rulers of his people. He does so despite the efforts of Saul's supporters to preserve the throne for Saul's son.