📖WEB · 1 Kings 2:25
What does 1 Kings 2:25 mean?
"King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died."
— 1 Kings 2:25 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
King 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.”
Then king Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, “God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life.
Now therefore as Yahweh 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.”
King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died.
To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the Lord Yahweh’s ark before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted.”
So Solomon thrust Abiathar out from being priest to Yahweh, that he might fulfill Yahweh’s word, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
This news came to Joab; for Joab had followed Adonijah, although he didn’t follow Absalom. Joab fled to Yahweh’s Tent, and held onto the horns of the altar.
Explanation
This verse records a stark and consequential action: King Solomon dispatches Benaiah, the commander of his army, to execute his own half-brother Adonijah. The verse itself is brief and matter-of-fact, simply stating that Benaiah struck Adonijah down and he died. The plainness of the language underscores the finality and severity of the judgment being carried out.
To understand this verse, we need the surrounding context. Adonijah was David's older son who had earlier attempted to seize the throne before David's death, positioning himself as king even though David had promised the throne to Solomon (1 Kings 1). David ultimately affirmed Solomon as his successor, and Adonijah was spared at that time, with Solomon warning him that any future wrongdoing would cost him his life (1 Kings 1:52). After David's death, Adonijah approached Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, asking her to request that Solomon give him Abishag the Shunammite, the young woman who had cared for David in his old age, as his wife (1 Kings 2:13-21). In the ancient Near Eastern context, taking a
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