1 Kings 2:18-24: a reflection

18Bathsheba said, “All right. I will speak for you to the king.” 19Bathsheba therefore went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne and caused a throne to be set for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right hand. 20Then she said, “I ask one small petition of you; don’t deny me.” The king said to her, “Ask on, my mother, for I will not deny you.” 21She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.” 22King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” 23Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, “God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life. 24Now therefore as the LORD lives, who has established me and set me on my father David’s throne, and who has made me a house as he promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death today.”

Adonijah, who had earlier tried to seize the throne and had been spared by Solomon, comes with a request. Through Bathsheba, he asks for Abishag, the woman who had attended the aged King David, to be given to him as wife. It sounds like a small, personal request; but Solomon sees through it. In that culture, to take the old king's attendant was a covert claim to the throne, and Solomon recognizes it as a renewed bid for power from a man who would not be content to let go of his ambition.

Notice the grasping ambition behind the seemingly small request. Adonijah had already reached for the throne and failed; he had been spared, given his life and a place. Yet he could not rest content; his ambition kept grasping, seeking a way back toward the power he had lost, even through a request that seemed innocent. His was an ambition that would not be satisfied, that kept reaching for more even after it had been shown mercy.

That is a warning about the restless nature of grasping ambition. Ambition that is not checked and content will keep reaching, never satisfied with what it has, always angling for more power, more status, more of what it craves, even at great risk. Adonijah's grasping ambition finally cost him his life. Guard your heart against an ambition that cannot rest content. Be watchful of the restless craving for more, more power, more status, more recognition, that is never satisfied with what you have been given. Cultivate contentment rather than grasping; be thankful for what you have and where God has placed you, rather than always reaching for more, like Adonijah, who could not let his ambition rest.

Lord, Adonijah, who had already reached for the throne and been spared, could not rest content, but made a request that veiled a renewed bid for power; his grasping ambition would not be satisfied. Warn me by that about the restless nature of ambition. Ambition that is not checked and content will keep reaching, never satisfied with what it has, always angling for more power, more status, more of what it craves, even at great risk. Guard my heart against an ambition that cannot rest content. Make me watchful of the restless craving for more, more power, status, recognition, that is never satisfied with what I have been given. Cultivate in me contentment rather than grasping; help me be thankful for what I have and where you have placed me, rather than always reaching for more. Keep me from Adonijah's restless ambition, and give me a contented heart that rests in what you have given.