And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him that he died.
This verse belongs to the account of Solomon's reign over the undivided kingdom. It shows Solomon carrying out the measures David had charged him to take for securing the throne, in that he sent Benaiah to kill Adonijah. Adonijah had acted from unholy ambition, trying to take advantage of David's old age to take the throne, and Joab failed in loyalty to his king by joining him. Nathan the prophet knew the Lord's will and David's mind and interfered with the plan, so Solomon was crowned king instead.
Adonijah had first been pardoned when Solomon's accession made his supporters disperse, but his pardon did not protect him from the consequences of a further offense against the king. The later offense was his request for Abishag after Solomon was crowned. That request was a shrewd attempt to gain the kingdom, since possessing the former king's concubine could give him a strong claim among the fickle people, and Solomon's order to put him to death ended that attempt to take the throne. By Solomon's order, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada fell upon Adonijah and killed him a little later after the crowning, at God's altar. Adonijah was one whom David had favored and never disciplined.
His plot and death further fulfill Nathan's warning that the sword would never depart from David's house, as part of the judgments recorded in David's later history that followed his great transgression concerning Uriah. His death is one of the untimely deaths of four sons presented as David's fourfold repayment for taking Uriah's wife and arranging Uriah's death. The rebellion of Adonijah and his death are part of the retribution that followed David through all the rest of his life for his wicked conduct toward Uriah, coming principally in his own family together with the history of Amnon and Tamar and the rebellion and unnatural crimes of Absalom. This proves that wrongdoing brings calamity and sorrow back upon the wrongdoer in the same kind of evil he caused others and that sin never pays.
Afterward Joab was also slain, and Shimei, who had cursed David, was put to death for failing to abide by the conditions of life laid upon him. Those who held the other reading taught that the verse records Solomon sending Benaiah son of Jehoiada to execute Shimei, bringing upon Shimei the just reward for his wickedness in cursing David during David's adversity.
This verse belongs to the account of Solomon's reign over the undivided kingdom. It shows Solomon carrying out the measures David had charged him to take for securing the throne, in that he sent Benaiah to kill Adonijah. Adonijah had acted from unholy ambition, trying to take advantage of David's old age to take the throne, and Joab failed in loyalty to his king by joining him. Nathan the prophet knew the Lord's will and David's mind and interfered with the plan, so Solomon was crowned king instead.
Adonijah had first been pardoned when Solomon's accession made his supporters disperse, but his pardon did not protect him from the consequences of a further offense against the king. The later offense was his request for Abishag after Solomon was crowned. That request was a shrewd attempt to gain the kingdom, since possessing the former king's concubine could give him a strong claim among the fickle people, and Solomon's order to put him to death ended that attempt to take the throne. By Solomon's order, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada fell upon Adonijah and killed him a little later after the crowning, at God's altar. Adonijah was one whom David had favored and never disciplined.
His plot and death further fulfill Nathan's warning that the sword would never depart from David's house, as part of the judgments recorded in David's later history that followed his great transgression concerning Uriah. His death is one of the untimely deaths of four sons presented as David's fourfold repayment for taking Uriah's wife and arranging Uriah's death. The rebellion of Adonijah and his death are part of the retribution that followed David through all the rest of his life for his wicked conduct toward Uriah, coming principally in his own family together with the history of Amnon and Tamar and the rebellion and unnatural crimes of Absalom. This proves that wrongdoing brings calamity and sorrow back upon the wrongdoer in the same kind of evil he caused others and that sin never pays.
Afterward Joab was also slain, and Shimei, who had cursed David, was put to death for failing to abide by the conditions of life laid upon him. Those who held the other reading taught that the verse records Solomon sending Benaiah son of Jehoiada to execute Shimei, bringing upon Shimei the just reward for his wickedness in cursing David during David's adversity.