Adonijah, Son of David (אֲדֹנִיָּה, adoniyyah, “my Lord is Yahweh”). The fourth son of David, through Haggith; born after Amnon, Chileab (Daniel), and Absalom (2 Sam 3:3–4). Executed by order of King Solomon, for persistent pretensions to the throne.

As King David (d. ca. 970 bc) was aged and infirm—and the monarchy still a young institution in Israel—the beginning of 1 Kings reflects the uncertainty of the succession process. The eldest surviving heir at the time was Adonijah (Chileab presumably having died, as well as Amnon and Absalom). Anticipating a court plot favoring Solomon (1 Kgs 1:8), and determining that only decisive action could seize the day, Adonijah launched a preemptive, bloodless coup before David’s death, staging a celebration—with himself as king—near En-rogel. Attendants included Abiathar, a priest; Joab, the head of the army; and a multitude of chariots, horsemen, and others (1 Kgs 1:5). Glaringly absent (and not invited) were Solomon and his advocates—including the prophet Nathan, the priest Zadok, the general Benaiah, and David’s mighty men (1 Kgs 1:10).

Fearful for their own welfare, Nathan and Bathsheba provoked David into proclaiming Solomon as king (1 Kgs 1:11–40), to be co-regent until David’s death. They predicated doing so on an alleged promise (not recorded elsewhere) made to Bathsheba that Solomon would succeed David. Solomon’s coronation was staged at Gihon and was so boisterous that Adonijah’s now-rebel camp fled at the commotion. Adonijah himself feared execution, but Solomon showed clemency instead (1 Kgs 1:50–53).

However, soon after David’s death, Adonijah petitioned Bathsheba to intercede with Solomon in order that Adonijah might marry Abishag, a young woman who had attended to David. Adonijah’s justification to the queen mother: “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel expected me to reign” (1 Kgs 2:15 NRSV)—would have constituted a challenge to the throne and its property, as the king’s harem belonged to his successor. Construing this as a treasonous ruse by his older brother, Solomon ordered Adonijah executed (1 Kgs 2:13–25).