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Context No. 2532 of 4322 · 1 Kings

Context · Reflection

1 Kings 1:49-53: in context

49All the guests of Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and each man went his way. 50Adonijah was afraid because of Solomon; and he arose, and went, and hung onto the horns of the altar. 51Solomon was told, “Behold, Adonijah fears King Solomon; for, behold, he is hanging onto the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not kill his servant with the sword.’” 52Solomon said, “If he shows himself a worthy man, not a hair of his shall fall to the earth; but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” 53So King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. He came and bowed down to King Solomon; and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.”

Adonijah, who had tried to seize the throne, learns that Solomon has been made king and is terrified. He runs to the tabernacle and grabs the horns of the altar, refusing to leave until Solomon swears not to kill him. Solomon's answer is measured mercy: if he proves himself a worthy man, not a hair of his head will fall, but if wickedness is found in him, he will die. Adonijah is brought down, bows, and is sent home.

Adonijah receives a reprieve, but it is a conditional one. He is spared, not because he has changed, but on the terms that he now live worthily; the pardon comes with a summons. It is a picture of a certain kind of mercy, real but not a blank check. To be spared is not the same as to be free to go on as before; the sparing itself calls for a changed life. Adonijah walks out of that tabernacle with his life and a condition attached to it, and what he does with the reprieve will decide everything.

Have I received a reprieve I am treating as a blank check, when the mercy itself was a summons to live worthily from now on?

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