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This presents before us the last of those three equal reigns, of forty years each, which seem to be typical of the three dispensations: the Hebrew Church with its apostasy; the Christian Church during its militant period; and the millennial reign with its triumphant glory. If Solomon was thus the type of the "Prince of Peace," the fact that he ascended his throne only by displacing a usurper may find its correspondence in the usurpation of authority over this world, Christ's rightful realm, by the prince of darkness. Yet how sure stands the unchanging word, "I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion"! Adonijah, who is mentioned fourth among David's sons, as his mother, Haggith, is fourth among David's wives, was a curious compound of physical beauty and grace with boundless conceit and impudence, arrogance, and ambition. He was a spoiled child: we are quaintly told in this chapter that "his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so?" Of his mother, Haggith, we get no glimpse, except as the record reveals that at Hebron, not long after Absalom's birth, she became the mother of this her only child, Adonijah. Her name in the Hebrew tongue means "dancer," and she was probably a gay, light, unprincipled woman, lacking both intellectual force and moral depth of character. This son certainly resembled this probable portrait of his mother. He was a "goodly man"; that is, of attractive personal presence — what, in our corruption of pure English, we would call a "handsome man." Yet his youthful passions were stronger than his principles, and his impulses trampled upon his convictions. As often happens in such cases, this son, who by reason of his mother's laxity and his own waywardness, needed a father's restraint the more, was subject to no parental authority or discipline whatever, and under no sceptre of family government. His ambition was reckless. Ordinarily, however much the favourite of his father, he could not have aspired to succeed him on the throne, for Ammon, Chileab, and Absalom would each in turn prefer the clash of primogeniture; but the death of these three elder brothers left Adonijah the eldest living son, and therefore a claimant to the royal succession. The throne was, however, pledged to Solomon, his younger brother, a child of promise, "beloved of the Lord," and better qualified every way for a wise and just ruler. Adonijah's ambition was not to be so easily thwarted. He saw with secret exultation the visible and rapid decline of his father's strength, and that the time had come to seize by force a crown which he could not secure by favour or procure by merit. Let us not forget the lesson's moral, which touches both parents and children. Parental authority and filial obedience are among God's unchanging decrees. A Divine curse for ever alienated from Eli's house the sacred privilege of the priesthood; and this is the ground of the curse: "Because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not." Yet he did inquire into their conduct and severely rebuked it, and so was a better father than David, who did not even investigate Adonijah's course. How grand is the contrast of Abraham, who commanded his children and his household after him to do justice and judgment! There may be an indulgence which is innocent. To deny to a child the gratification of a proper and natural desire whose indulgence would work no harm to the child nor injustice to others may be unjust; capricious refusal may provoke to wrath a child who is disposed to obedience, and stir up mischief, if not malice. But promiscuous indulgence leaves children to grow up selfish, sensual, and reckless. One of the laws of the Mosaic code required every builder of a house to put a battlement around the roof; and that battlement, in the building of the household, is parental law. Where that exists a child falls into ruin only as he climbs over the battlement. Without pressing this lesson to the extreme of a fanciful typical interpretation, we may lawfully find in it illustrations of some most important truths: first of all, the secret of prevailing prayer. Bathsheba went before King. David with confidence, for he had given his royal word of promise: "Surely Solomon thy son shall sit on my throne." There was no presumption in her plea; she was emboldened by the king's word: it was the confidence and courage of faith. And so she got her request, and the answer was immediate as well as sure: "Even so will I certainly do this day." What is our encouragement in prayer? The promise of the immutable God. No capricious moods make Him liable to repent or change His mind; no old age and failing faculties render Him liable to forget. We have to do with the eternal, unchanging God, whose word is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. A second illustration may be gathered from this lesson as to the providence of God overruling the evil designs of men and accomplishing His purposes. Everything seemed against Solomon when Adonijah, surrounded by his fellow-conspirators, was saluted as king. His throne was at risk, and even his life was in peril But there was an old man, not yet dead, in whose feeble hands the sceptre still rested, and who had sworn that Solomon should be heir to the kingdom. A few words spoken by him unseated the usurper, dispersed his minions, and placed the child of promise upon the throne. How often "all things" seem against us, while "all things work together for our good." The god of this world has usurped the kingdom, and a host of followers rally round his standard. The apparent successes of the god of this world in seizing the reins of empire and oppressing the saints of the Most High shall make his ultimate defeat only the more overwhelming, complete, and final

(A. T. Pierson, D. D.)

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KJV: And, lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in.

WEB: Behold, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet came in.