Kings and Coups and Plays for Power

Every time that I read through the Bible, I find something that I’ve never noticed, or something that I might have noticed, but didn’t really pay much attention to.  This time is no different.  I wrote in a previous post about Israel’s first king, Abimelech (before you tell me that Saul was the first king, read the post).  To be fair, Abimelech may have laid claim to the crown.  He may have even held some sort of power.  But as one person commented, his “kingship” was never ordained by God, and so he was never a true king in Israel.

As I’ve continued to read (I’m using a chronological reading chart, and I’m just barely into Solomon’s reign now), I’ve realized that Israel’s history had more than a few bits of political intrigue!  Abimelech may have been the first to lay an illegitimate claim to the crown, but he was definately not the last!  By the time Solomon is crowned king, there have been two others!  Absalom, one of David’s sons attempted to overthrow David (see 2 Sam 15) in the midst of David’s rule (if you wish to see my posting on Absalom, click here).  Then in 1 Kings 1, when David is on his deathbed, another of his sons, Adonijah, makes a play for the throne (even though the kingdom had already been promised to Solomon).

Anyone who ever wants to say that the Bible is a boring book obviously has never paid attention to the fact that by the end of David’s life, Israel has seen 5 people take the title of king!  (Saul and David held the title by God’s ordination – Abimelech, Absalom and Adonijah were all imposters who had made illegitimate bids for power – and hey!  I just noticed that all of the pretenders had names starting with “A” – but that has nothing to do with my posting and is just a little rabbit trail…).  Who knew that there was so much political intrigue even back then?  I’m getting curious as to how much more scandal I’m going to come across in Israel’s (and Judah’s) history!