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1 Kings 2:22

in 1 Kings 2

King 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!”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And king Solomon answered and said unto his mother, And why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he is mine elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.

KJV

And king Solomon answered and said unto his mother, And why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he is mine elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.

This verse in 1 Kings 2

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
Ask for him the kingdom also - Bath-sheba had not seen anything dangerous or suspicious in Adonijah’s request. Solomon, on the contrary, takes alarm at once. To ask for Abishag was to ask for the kingdom. To the Oriental mind a monarch was so sacred, that whatever was brought near to him was thenceforth separate from common use. This sacred and separate character attached especially to the Royal harem. The inmates either remained widows for the rest of their lives, or became the wives of the deceased king’s successor.

This site's exposition

you might as well request the kingdom for him

on 1 Kings 2:22-25

Solomon hears the request as a claim on the throne, the reading 2 Samuel 16:20-22 gave Absalom's act. Adonijah's word, that the kingship came from the LORD, is answered by the LORD “who founded for me a dynasty as He promised”. Benaiah carries out the sentence the same day.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

This was, in both, an intolerable affront both to God and to the government, and the worse because of their high station and the great influence their examples might have upon many. They therefore come next to be reckoned with. They are both equally guilty of the treason, but, in the judgment passed upon them, a difference is made and with good reason.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

To ask that he may succeed the king in his bed is, in effect, to ask that he may succeed him in his throne; for that is it he aims at." Probably he had information, or cause for a strong suspicion, that Adonijah was plotting with Joab and Abiathar to give him disturbance, which warranted him to put this construction upon Adonijah's request.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes

And King Solomon answered and said unto his mother,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

why dost thou ask Abishag . . . ask for him the kingdom also--(See on 2Sa 16:5; also see on 2Sa 12:8). Solomon's indignation was roused; he in a moment penetrated the artful scheme, and from his associating the names of Abiathar and Joab, he seems to have suspected or known that those deep schemers had been the prompters of Adonijah.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

The words behind it

27 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיַּעַן֩and he answered

    vaiyaanH6030 →331 times

  • הַמֶּ֨לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • שְׁלֹמֹ֜הSolomon

    shelomohH8010 →291 times

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • לְאִמּ֗וֹto mother his

    leimoH517 →220 times

  • וְלָמָה֩and <to> why?

    velamahH4100 →752 times

  • אַ֨תְּ[are] you

    ʾatH859 →1094 times

  • שֹׁאֶ֜לֶתasking

    shoeletH7592 →171 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • אֲבִישַׁ֤גAbishag

    ʾavishagH49 →5 times

  • הַשֻּׁנַמִּית֙the Shunammite

    hashunamitH7767 →8 times

  • לַאֲדֹ֣נִיָּ֔הוּfor Adonijah

    laadoniyahuH138 →26 times

  • וְשַֽׁאֲלִי־and ask

    veshaali-H7592 →171 times

  • לוֹ֙for him

    lo

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַמְּלוּכָ֔הthe kingship

    hamelukhahH4410 →24 times

  • כִּ֛יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • ה֥וּאhe

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

  • אָחִ֖י[is] brother my

    ʾachiH251 →630 times

  • הַגָּד֣וֹל<the> old

    hagadolH1419 →526 times

  • מִמֶּ֑נִּיmore than me

    mimeniH4480 →1188 times

  • וְלוֹ֙and for him

    velo

  • וּלְאֶבְיָתָ֣רand for Abiathar

    uleevyatarH54 →30 times

  • הַכֹּהֵ֔ןthe priest

    hakohenH3548 →750 times

  • וּלְיוֹאָ֖בand for Joab

    uleyoavH3097 →144 times

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H1121 →4930 times

  • צְרוּיָֽה׃ פZeruiah

    tzeruyahH6870 →26 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    James 4:3

    And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.

    it leads to

    • 1 John 5:14

      And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

    • 1 John 3:22

      and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.

    • James 1:6–7

      But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

    • James 4:1

      What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?

    • Proverbs 15:8

      The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.

  • Through

    Mark 10:38

    “You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus replied. “Can you drink the cup I will drink, or be baptized with the baptism I will undergo?”

    it leads to

    • Luke 12:50

      But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!

  • Through

    2 Samuel 12:8

    I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you…

    it leads to

    • Psalms 84:11

      For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.

  • Through

    1 Kings 1:11

    Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, “Have you not heard that Adonijah son of Haggith has become king, and our lord David does not know it?

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 3:4

      his fourth was Adonijah, the son of Haggith; his fifth was Shephatiah, the son of Abital;

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About 1 Kings

The visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, Sir Edward John Poynter, 1890. Public domain.
The visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, Sir Edward John Poynter, 1890. Public domain.

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.