1 Kings 2:13-17: a reflection

13Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably. 14He said moreover, I have something to tell you.” She said, “Say on.” 15He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign. However, the kingdom is turned around, and has become my brother’s; for it was his from the LORD. 16Now I ask one petition of you. Don’t deny me.” She said to him, “Say on.” 17He said, “Please speak to Solomon the king (for he will not tell you ‘no’), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife.”

After Solomon has been established as king, his older brother Adonijah, who had earlier tried to seize the throne, comes to Bathsheba with what seems a small and innocent request. He asks, through her, only for Abishag the Shunammite as his wife. But this apparently modest request was not what it seemed; to ask for the former king's attendant was, in that world, a veiled grasp at the throne itself, a step toward reasserting his claim to the kingdom. Beneath the innocent-seeming request lay a hidden ambition, a disguised reach for power. The request was small on its face, but its intent was large; ambition had cloaked itself in a modest petition. What looked like a simple request masked a grasp for what was not his, ambition disguised as innocence.

Notice how ambition disguised itself here: in a small, innocent-seeming request. Adonijah did not openly grasp for the throne; he asked, apparently, for a small thing, one wife. But beneath the modest request lay a hidden ambition, a veiled reach for power, a step toward reclaiming the kingdom. Ambition can cloak itself in innocence, hiding a large grasp within a small petition, so that what looks harmless is really a reach for what is not ours. The danger is that such disguised ambition can slip past our notice, or another's, precisely because it wears the look of innocence. What is asked may seem small; what is intended may be a grasp for power. Ambition does not always announce itself; sometimes it hides in a modest-seeming request, and we do well to see what lies beneath. The face of a request is not always its heart.

That is worth taking to heart, for ambition can disguise itself in seemingly innocent requests, and we do well to see what lies beneath. We can present, or be presented with, requests that seem small and innocent but hide a larger ambition, a reach for power or position that is not rightly ours; and such disguised ambition can slip past notice because it wears the look of innocence, as Adonijah's request for one wife masked a grasp at the throne. There is wisdom in looking beneath the surface of a request to its real intent. Do not be deceived by the innocent look of a request that hides a grasping ambition; see what lies beneath, as Adonijah's modest petition masked a reach for the throne. Look beneath the innocent surface of requests to their real intent, aware that ambition can disguise itself in a small and modest-seeming petition, as Adonijah's request for one wife veiled a grasp at the throne; for ambition does not always announce itself openly but can cloak a large reach for power within a harmless-looking request, and there is wisdom in discerning the heart of a request rather than being deceived by its innocent face.

Lord, after Solomon has been established as king, his older brother Adonijah, who had earlier tried to seize the throne, comes to Bathsheba with what seems a small and innocent request. He asks, through her, only for Abishag the Shunammite as his wife. But this apparently modest request was not what it seemed; to ask for the former king's attendant was, in that world, a veiled grasp at the throne itself, a step toward reasserting his claim. Beneath the innocent-seeming request lay a hidden ambition, a disguised reach for power. What looked like a simple request masked a grasp for what was not his. Show me how ambition disguised itself here: in a small, innocent-seeming request. Adonijah did not openly grasp for the throne; he asked, apparently, for a small thing. But beneath the modest request lay a hidden ambition, a veiled reach for power. Ambition can cloak itself in innocence, hiding a large grasp within a small petition, so that what looks harmless is really a reach for what is not ours. The danger is that such disguised ambition can slip past notice precisely because it wears the look of innocence. Take that to my heart, for ambition can disguise itself in seemingly innocent requests, and I do well to see what lies beneath. I can present, or be presented with, requests that seem small and innocent but hide a larger ambition; and such disguised ambition can slip past notice because it wears the look of innocence, as Adonijah's request masked a grasp at the throne. Keep me from being deceived by the innocent look of a request that hides a grasping ambition; help me see what lies beneath, Lord, and discern the heart of a request rather than its innocent face, as Adonijah's modest petition veiled a reach for the throne.