Solomons lie

[stmax]

In 1Kings2, Bathsheba (Soloman’s mother) makes a request to her son asking that Adonijah be married to Abishag the Shunamite. Soloman says that he will not refuse his mother of anything. Once she states her request, he kills Adonijah not allowing him to be married to the Shunamite.

In this story Solomon completely lies to his mother by refusing her request after he promised not to. The confusion I have is, that many people believe that this is evidence of the power of Mary’s intercession because she is the Queen mother and the King will not refuse her. Yet if you continue down, you find that the king does refuse her. Does this contradict our belief in Mary’s intercession?

 

[Gorgias]

I guess that the question really comes down to what the “refusal” is all about. Is it that Solomon will not refuse to do the favor asked of him? Or is it that the “refusal” is about not refusing to listen to the request? The phrasing in the NAB and RSV-CE2 is somewhat ambiguous on this account. However, if we go back to the Douay-Rheims (and therefore, to the Latin or Greek), we see that the phrasing is different: instead of asking “do not refuse me”, we see that the request is “do not turn away my face”.

In other words, it appears that the plea is to be heard: Adonijah begs Bathsheba to hear his request; she does, and she decides to take it to Solomon. Bathsheba then begs her son, the king, to hear her request; he does, but realizing that Adonijah is still plotting for the throne, he makes the decision to not permit Adonijah to marry his father’s final wife.

So, there’s not really any “lie” here – what is requested (in both cases) is to hear the favor, and in both cases, that request is granted.

 

[mskejj]

In 1Kings2, Bathsheba (Soloman’s mother) makes a request to her son asking that Adonijah be married to Abishag the Shunamite. Soloman says that he will not refuse his mother of anything. Once she states her request, he kills Adonijah not allowing him to be married to the Shunamite.

In this story Solomon completely lies to his mother by refusing her request after he promised not to. The confusion I have is, that many people believe that this is evidence of the power of Mary’s intercession because she is the Queen mother and the King will not refuse her. Yet if you continue down, you find that the king does refuse her. Does this contradict our belief in Mary’s intercession?

Mary’s intercession is done in accordance with God’s will. This incident of Adonijah attempt to marry Abishag, who belonged to DAVID’s harem, meant that he had designs on the throne. His design to take over was seen by Solomon and as a result the request was denied. The Queen Mother of the Davidic Kingdom is a “type” and the Blessed Mother fulfills this role…so while this queen mother did not obtain what she asks;…Mary, the mother of Christ is effective and is always in the presence of her Son.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

He only promised to give her to Adonijah. He didn’t promise that Adonijah would be there to receive her. Being the wisest of men he found a way to fulfill his promise and avoid the threat to his throne.

He would have made a great Jesuit.

 

[Gorgias]

He only promised to give her to Adonijah. He didn’t promise that Adonijah would be there to receive her. Being the wisest of men he found a way to fulfill his promise and avoid the threat to his throne.

He would have made a great Jesuit.

Hey, cut it out… folks are gonna think you’re being serious…!

 

[midori]

Context is important.

Don’t forget-- Adonijah was Solomon’s big brother; although their mothers were different, both were sons of David. (Solomon’s mother was Bathsheba; Adonijah’s mother was Haggith.) So because Adonijah was an elder son, it was presumed that he would be ahead of Solomon in line for the throne, but Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan both convinced David to declare Solomon his heir instead.

Also don’t forget who Abishag the Shunammite was: she was basically King David’s hot water bottle. She would snuggle up with him in bed to keep him warm in his old age. Even though Kings says that “he knew her not”, and she neither married him nor had any relations with him, sleeping with the King’s concubines was one way of declaring yourself king. (Remember older brother Absalom?)

So here you have a guy who, in ch 1, declared himself King when his father was dying, but Solomon was crowned instead. All that gets forgiven and put in the past, even though it must have been tremendously humiliating, but Solomon was very magnanimous and said that as long as he shows himself worthy, he’ll live, but if he shows himself evil, he’ll die next time. So what does he do in ch 2, but try to pull this stunt? Whether it was innocent or part of a scheme, it doesn’t matter— it was a Really Bad Idea, and his lack of prudence and judgment caused things to end badly for him. This situation is more about Adonijah’s bad faith or bad judgment, rather than Bathsheba’s imprudent promise to not refuse Adonijah’s request before he made it, or Solomon’s equally imprudent promise to grant her request before she made it, too. I rather think that “imprudence” is not a characteristic associated with Mary, so in answer to your question, no, it has no effect on my belief about the facility of Mary’s intercessory powers.

 

[TimothyH]

Context is important.

Don’t forget-- Adonijah was Solomon’s big brother; although their mothers were different, both were sons of David. (Solomon’s mother was Bathsheba; Adonijah’s mother was Haggith.) So because Adonijah was an elder son, it was presumed that he would be ahead of Solomon in line for the throne, but Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan both convinced David to declare Solomon his heir instead.

Also don’t forget who Abishag the Shunammite was: she was basically King David’s hot water bottle. She would snuggle up with him in bed to keep him warm in his old age. Even though Kings says that “he knew her not”, and she neither married him nor had any relations with him, sleeping with the King’s concubines was one way of declaring yourself king. (Remember older brother Absalom?)

So here you have a guy who, in ch 1, declared himself King when his father was dying, but Solomon was crowned instead. All that gets forgiven and put in the past, even though it must have been tremendously humiliating, but Solomon was very magnanimous and said that as long as he shows himself worthy, he’ll live, but if he shows himself evil, he’ll die next time. So what does he do in ch 2, but try to pull this stunt? Whether it was innocent or part of a scheme, it doesn’t matter— it was a Really Bad Idea, and his lack of prudence and judgment caused things to end badly for him. This situation is more about Adonijah’s bad faith or bad judgment, rather than Bathsheba’s imprudent promise to not refuse Adonijah’s request before he made it, or Solomon’s equally imprudent promise to grant her request before she made it, too. I rather think that “imprudence” is not a characteristic associated with Mary, so in answer to your question, no, it has no effect on my belief about the facility of Mary’s intercessory powers.

This is an amazingly good response and post.

Thank you for the thourough explanation.

And thank you for your tactful defense of our Holy Mother.

-Tim-