The Execution of Adonijah
Adonijah comes to Bathsheba with a peaceful approach and asks her to secure Abishag the Shunammite as his wife. He frames the lost kingship as something given by the LORD to Solomon and presents this as his one request.
N13ow Adonijah son of Haggith went to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, and she asked, “Do you come in peace?” 14“Yes, in peace,” he replied. Then he said, “I have something to tell you.” 15“You know that the kingship was mine,” he said. “All Israel expected that I should reign, but the kingship has turned to my brother, for it has come to him from the LORD. 16So now I have just one request of you; do not deny me.” 17Adonijah replied, “Please speak to King Solomon, since he will not turn you down. Let him give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.” 18“Very well,” Bathsheba replied. “I will speak to the king for you.”
Bathsheba presents the request to Solomon, who honors her yet hears the danger in it at once. Taking Abishag as linked to royal claim, he swears by the LORD and orders Adonijah's death that same day.
19So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. The king stood up to greet her, bowed to her, and sat down on his throne. Then the king had a throne brought for his mother, who sat down at his right hand. 20“I have just one small request of you,” she said. “Do not deny me.” 21So Bathsheba said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.” 22King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Since he is my older brother, you might as well request the kingdom for him and for Abiathar the priest and for Joab son of Zeruiah!” 23Then King Solomon swore by the LORD: “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if Adonijah has not made this request at the expense of his life. 24And now, as surely as the LORD lives — the One who established me, who set me on the throne of my father David, and who founded for me a dynasty as He promised— surely Adonijah shall be put to death today!” 25So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck down Adonijah and he died.
Solomon sends Abiathar back to Anathoth instead of killing him, remembering his service and suffering with David. Even so, he removes him from the priesthood, fulfilling the word spoken against Eli's house.
26Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your fields in Anathoth. Even though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death at this time, since you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David, and you suffered through all that my father suffered.” 27So Solomon banished Abiathar from the priesthood of the LORD and thus fulfilled the word that the LORD had spoken at Shiloh against the house of Eli.