The Beginning of Politics by Halbertal Moshe; Holmes Stephen;

Author:Halbertal, Moshe; Holmes, Stephen; [Halbertal, Moshe; Holmes, Stephen;]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780691174624
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2017-01-15T07:00:00+00:00

FOUR

David’s Will and Last Words

As his eventful life approached its end, the once vigorous king is portrayed as pitifully bedridden and out of touch:

And King David had grown old, advanced in years, and they covered him with bedclothes, but he was not warm. And his servants said to him, “Let them seek out for my lord the king a young virgin, that she may wait upon the king and become his familiar, and lie in your lap, and my lord the king will be warm.” And they sought out a beautiful young woman through all the territory of Israel, and they found Abishag the Shunamite and brought her to the king. And the young woman was very beautiful, and she became a familiar to the king and ministered to him, but the king knew her not. (I Kings 1:1–4)

Reduced to a shivering old man, warmed but not reanimated by a beautiful virgin, the sexually impotent king, now confined to his bedchamber, has seemingly lost control of his kingdom as well as his court. As the king’s authority ebbed, the resulting power vacuum rekindled the dynastic tensions that had not been fully quelled by the crushing of Absalom’s revolt. That abortive rebellion had at least taught future contenders to avoid a premature bid for the throne. A would-be usurper now knew to wait until the reigning monarch, while still clinging to life, was too physically decrepit to repel any power grab that enjoyed both popular and elite support. An aspiring usurper’s window of opportunity would open only when the current sovereign was already incapacitated and moribund but, crucially, had not yet named his heir. The time now seemed ripe:

Adonijah son of Haggith was giving himself airs, saying, “I shall be king!” And he made himself a chariot and horsemen with fifty men running before him. And his father never caused him pain, saying, “Why have you done thus?” And he, too, was very goodly of appearance, and him she had born after Absalom. And he parlayed with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they lent their support to Adonijah. But Zadok the priest and Benaiah son of Jehoiada and Nathan the prophet and Shimei and Rei and David’s warriors were not with Adonijah. And Adonijah made a sacrificial feast of sheep and oxen and fatlings by the Zoheleth stone which is near En-rogel, and he invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants. But Nathan the prophet and Benaiah and the warriors and Solomon his brother he did not invite. (I Kings 1:5–10)

The handsome prince Adonijah was made of the same stock as his older brother, Absalom. When Adonijah adopted the regalia of a sovereign, David, always the doting father, uttered not an admonishing word. Having never been chastised or upbraided by his father, David’s oldest surviving son felt entitled to the throne.1 Suspecting that David might nevertheless favor a younger son as heir, he decided to strike preemptively,

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