And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah thy brother to wife.
1 Kings 2:21 falls within the history of Solomon's reign, which forms the first section of 1 Kings and recounts the period of the undivided kingdom. That history of Solomon's reign is covered in the first eleven chapters of 1 Kings. The chapter shows Solomon carrying out the measures David charged him to take to secure the throne after David's death.
The verse belongs to the account of Adonijah's attempt to exploit David's old age to seize the throne. Nathan the prophet knew the Lord's will and the king's mind and intervened against the plan, so that Solomon was crowned king and the plot was defeated. Asking for Abishag the Shunammite as wife was part of Adonijah's shrewd plot to obtain the kingdom, since having the king's concubine could strengthen his claim to the throne among the people.
The request was treated as a further offence and insult to Solomon. Adonijah was put to death a little later for his unholy ambition. His overthrow and death showed that the sword would not depart from David's house.
The verse is included in the account of David's later history, which shows the fulfillment of Nathan's denunciation through the judgments that came upon David. Adonijah's rebellion and death, begun by the request for Abishag to wife, was part of the retribution that came upon David for his wicked conduct toward Uriah. It shows the law that wrongdoing brings calamity and sorrow upon the wrongdoer, with the very kind of evil caused to others coming back upon himself, falling principally in his own family as in the history of Amnon and Tamar and the rebellion and unnatural crimes of Absalom, proving that sin pays in its own kind.
1 Kings 2:21 falls within the history of Solomon's reign, which forms the first section of 1 Kings and recounts the period of the undivided kingdom. That history of Solomon's reign is covered in the first eleven chapters of 1 Kings. The chapter shows Solomon carrying out the measures David charged him to take to secure the throne after David's death.
The verse belongs to the account of Adonijah's attempt to exploit David's old age to seize the throne. Nathan the prophet knew the Lord's will and the king's mind and intervened against the plan, so that Solomon was crowned king and the plot was defeated. Asking for Abishag the Shunammite as wife was part of Adonijah's shrewd plot to obtain the kingdom, since having the king's concubine could strengthen his claim to the throne among the people.
The request was treated as a further offence and insult to Solomon. Adonijah was put to death a little later for his unholy ambition. His overthrow and death showed that the sword would not depart from David's house.
The verse is included in the account of David's later history, which shows the fulfillment of Nathan's denunciation through the judgments that came upon David. Adonijah's rebellion and death, begun by the request for Abishag to wife, was part of the retribution that came upon David for his wicked conduct toward Uriah. It shows the law that wrongdoing brings calamity and sorrow upon the wrongdoer, with the very kind of evil caused to others coming back upon himself, falling principally in his own family as in the history of Amnon and Tamar and the rebellion and unnatural crimes of Absalom, proving that sin pays in its own kind.