(9) And Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fat cattle by the stone of Zoheleth, which is by Enrogel, and called all his brethren the king's sons, and all the men of Judah the king's servants: (10) But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not.
It should seem that like Absalom his brother, he begun his iniquities with sacrifice. It is sad when men's ambitious views stimulate them to evil. But it is awful indeed when such men begin their evil designs with professions of religion, as if they wished you to believe the Lord gave countenance to them. See 2 Samuel 15:7, etc. The evil conduct of Adonijah in this usurpation was the more pointed, because the succession of the kingdom had been already fixed by God himself on Solomon, as Adonijah could not but know. The Reader will discover this also if he compares 2 Samuel 7:12-13, with 1 Chronicles 22:6-11. But Reader! after having paid all due respect to the historical part of this subject, turn your thoughts to an infinitely more interesting part in the spiritual; and behold in Adonijah's attempt to subvert the kingdom, the representation of those who will not have the Lord Jesus Christ to reign over them. Here an ample subject opens to our meditation, which the Reader will do well to enlarge upon and improve.