adonijah Summary and Overview

my Lord is Jehovah. (1.) The fourth son of David (2 Sam. 3:4). After the death of his elder brothers, Amnon and Absalom, he became heir-apparent to the throne. But Solomon, a younger brother, was preferred to him. Adonijah, however, when his father was dying, caused himself to be proclaimed king. But Nathan and Bathsheba induced David to give orders that Solomon should at once be proclaimed and admitted to the throne. Adonijah fled and took refuge at the altar, and received pardon for his conduct from Solomon on the condition that he showed himself "a worthy man" (1 Kings 1:5-53). He afterwards made a second attempt to gain the throne, but was seized and put to death (1 Kings 2:13-25). (2.) A Levite sent with the princes to teach the book of the law to the inhabitants of Judah (2 Chr. 17:8). (3.) One of the "chiefs of the people" after the Captivity (Neh. 10:16).

(my Lord is Jehovah). 1. The fourth son of David by Haggith, born at Hebron while his father was king of Judah. #2Sa 3:4| (B.C. about 1050.) After the death of his three brothers, Amnon, Chileab and Absalom, he became eldest son; and when his father's strength was visibly declining, put forward his pretensions to the crown. Adonijah's cause was espoused by Abiathar and by Joab the famous commander of David's army. [JOAB] His name and influence secured a large number of followers among the captains of the royal army belonging to the tribe of Judah, comp. #1Ki 1:5| and these, together with all the princes except Solomon, were entertained by Adonijah at the great sacrificial feast held "by the stone Zoheleth, which is by En-rogel." [EN-ROGEL] Apprised of these proceedings, David immediately caused Solomon to be proclaimed king, #1Ki 1:33,34| at Gihon. [GIHON] This decisive measure struck terror into the opposite party, and Adonijah fled to the sanctuary, but was pardoned by Solomon on condition that he should "show himself a worthy man." #1Ki 1:52| The death of David quickly followed on these events; and Adonijah begged Bath-sheba to procure Solomon's consent to his marriage with Abishag, who had been the wife of David in his old age. #1Ki 1:3| This was regarded as equivalent to a fresh attempt on the throne [ABSALOM; ABNER]; and therefore Solomon ordered him to be put to death by Benaiah. #1Ki 2:25| 2. A Levite in the reign of Jehoshaphat. #2Ch 17:8| 3. The same as Adonikam. #Ne 10:16| [ADONIKAM]

ADONI'JAH (my Lord is Jehovah). 1. David's fourth son. 2 Sam 3:4. He was born at Hebron, and after the death of his brothers, Amnon, Chileab, and Absalom, he made pretensions to the throne of his father, because he was then the oldest living son of David. He prepared himself with horses and chariots and other marks of royalty, and took counsel with Joab and Abiathar how he could best accomplish his purpose. Bath-sheba, Solomon's mother, fearing that her son's title to the throne might be disturbed, immediately informed the king of Adonijah's revolt; and Nathan the prophet having confirmed the statement of the matter, David gave Bath-sheba the strongest assurances that her son should reign after him; and he caused Solomon to be anointed and proclaimed king amid general rejoicings. 1 Kgs 1:39. Adonijah was just ending a feast when he heard the noise of the shouting, and Jonathan came in and told him all that had taken place. His guests fled precipitately, and Adonijah himself ran and caught hold of the horns of the altar, which from long-existent custom was regarded as a place of safety. But Solomon sent for him, and pardoned him on condition that he showed himself "a worthy man." 1 Kgs 1:52. This was an act of rare clemency. After David's death, Adonijah persuaded Bath-sheba to ask Solomon, her son, who was now on the throne, to give him Abishag for his wife. This request was, according to Oriental court-etiquette, equivalent to a fresh attempt on the throne. So Solomon caused him to be put to death by the hand of Benaiah. 1 Kgs 2:25. 1. A Levite in Jehoshaphat's time. 2 Chr 17:8. 1. One who sealed the covenant.Neh 10:16.

(See ABIATHAR) and ABSALOM). Means "My Lord is Jehovah", or, "Jah my Father". 1. Fourth son of David, by Haggith, born at Hebron. Very goodly in looks, like Absalom. Foolishly indulged by his father, who "had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so?" Never crossed when young, he naturally expected to have his own way when old; and took it, to his father's grief in his old age, and to his own destruction. Compare Proverbs 13:24; Proverbs 22:6; "Train up a child in the way he should go;" not in the way he would go: 1 Kings 1:6. When David was seemingly too old to offer energetic resistance, Adonijah as now the oldest son, about 35 years old (compare 2 Samuel 3:2-4 with 2 Samuel 5:5), Amnon, Chileab, and Absalom being dead, claimed the throne, in defiance of God's expressed will, and David's oath to Bathsheba that Solomon should inherit the throne (1 Chronicles 22:9-10). Like Absalom (2 Samuel 15:1) he assumed regal state, with chariots, horsemen, and 50 men to run before him (2 Kings 1; 2). Nathan the prophet, Zadok (Eleazar's descendant, and so of the older line of priesthood), Benaiah son of Jehoiada, captain of the king's guard, Shimei and Rei (or Shimma, Raddai), David's own brothers, supported Solomon. Adonijah was supported by Abiathar, Eli's descendant of Ithamar's (Aaron's fourth son's) line, the junior line, and Joab who perhaps had a misgiving as to the possibility of Solomon's punishing his murder of Abner and Amasa, and a grudge toward David for having appointed the latter commander in chief in his stead (2 Samuel 19:13). Adonijah had also invited to a feast by the stone Zoheleth at En-rogel all the king's sons except Solomon, and the captains of the host, the king's servants, of Judah. A meeting for a religious purpose, such as that of consecrating a king, was usually held near a fountain, which En-rogel was. Nathan and Bathsheba foiled his plot by inducing David to have Solomon conducted in procession on the king's mule to Gihon, a spring W. of Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 32:30). Upon his being anointed and proclaimed by Zadok, all the people hailed him, God save the king! Adonijah's party, surprised suddenly amidst their feasting, typify sinners' carnal security, from which the Lord's coming suddenly shall startle them to their destruction (Matthew 24:48; Luke 12:45; 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3; compare 1 Kings 1:49). Adonijah, at the tidings announced by Jonathan, Abiathar's son, fled for sanctuary, to the horns of the altar. Solomon would have spared him had he shown himself "a worthy man." But on David's death he, through the queen mother Bathsheba, now exalted to Special dignity, sought Abishag, David's virgin widow, to be given him, a contemplated incest only second to that perpetrated by Absalom, whom he so much resembled, and also a connection which was regarded in the East as tantamount to a covert claim to the deceased monarch's throne. (See ABNER and (See ABSALOM.) Benaiah dispatched him. 2. A Levite in Jehoshaphat's reign (2 Chronicles 17:8), sent with the princes to teach the book of the law throughout Judah. 3. Nehemiah 10:16, called Adonikam in Ezra 2:13, whose children were 666 (compare Revelation 13:18, the numerical mark of the beast), Revelation 8:13; Nehemiah 7:18; Nehemiah 10:16, but 667 in Nehemiah 7:18.