In 1 Kings 2:13-25 why didn't Solomon's mother see Adonijah's request as treasonous?

Question

In 1 Kings 2:13-25 when Adonijah asked Bathsheba to ask Solomon for Abishag as a wife, Solomon saw the request as tantamount to a treasonous attempt on the throne.

Given that Bathsheba was aware of Adonijah's previous attempt on the throne, why did she agree to relay the request? Why didn't she see it the same way that Solomon did? Or was the whole point that she was trying to tip off Solomon as to Adonijah's treason? If that was the case, though, why the pretense of relaying it as if it were actually a serious request?

Alternatively: why did Solomon see this as treason and Bathsheba didn't?

Answer 1

Here are two suggestions to answer this good question.

1. Benson:

1 Kings 2:17. That he give me Abishag to wife — It is not likely that either Adonijah or Bath-sheba was ignorant that it was unlawful for any man to marry his father’s wife: but they perhaps thought that as David knew her not, the marriage had not been completed.

Poole makes a similar comment

2. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Her question to him betrays an apprehension which his recent conduct might well warrant; but his pious acknowledgment of the divine will seemed apparently to indicate so entire an acquiescence in the settlement of the succession [1Ki 2:15], that, in her womanly simplicity, she perceived not the deep cunning and evil design that was concealed under his request and readily undertook to promote his wishes.

The true answer may have been a combination of the two.

Answer 2

In reply to Dottard, the “room” on the housetops was a common way adds room to a house cheaply, provide a cooler place to be, etc. Every king went to battle with his troops, so it would’ve been unheard of for him to stay behind. It would’ve been very unusual for anyone to be high enough ( the palace) to see someone bathing on the roof . As is also commonly known, women’s thoughts, opinions, wishes were rarely considered... if the king says “you’re mine tonight,” she would not have had a choice. To call her “stupid,” etc. is to ignore what is known about the customs.

Answer 3

My understanding of Bathsheba is that she was smarter than she looked. We should not take her apparent naivete at face value. She knew very well that Adonijah's request was treasonous. Indeed, I think she brought his request to Solomon quite cleverly, with the intent that the most important obstacle to the consolidation of her son's throne be removed. Solomon's reply was exactly what she had hoped for:

Request the kingship for him! For he is my older brother, and the priest Abiathar and Joab son of Zeruiah are on his side. So may God do to me and even more, if broaching this matter does not cost Adonijah his life!

Bathsheba had been instrumental in exposing Adonijah's plot to usurp the throne. No wonder she asks, as Adonijah enters (stage left) "Do you come in peace?" (see parallel in 2 Kings 9:31.) Solomon's response to her supposedly straightforward request indicates that the political threat to his throne was by no means dealt with yet. We should not think that Bathsheba was unaware of all this.

Conclusion: Behind the polite courtly talk, treason and murder lurk throughout this scene, which is worthy of Shakespeare. It is not by accident that the chapter opens by telling us "When the time of David’s death drew near, he gave these instructions to Solomon his son" and ends with the declaration: "And the royal power was established in Solomon’s hand." Bathsheba very politely exposed Adonijah's treason to David, and in this chapter she likewise insures than David's successor be made aware of the continued threat to the throne by the same villain.

Answer 4

In 1 Kings 2:13-25 why didn't Solomon's mother see Adonijah's request as treasonous?

Because she is simple and naive, even dumb and stupid.

She bathed where David could see her in 2 Samuel 11:2

One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,

She married one of the most righteous men in the Bible, Uriah the Hittite. Yet she was unfaithful to him in 2 Samuel 11:4

Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home.

as if this was no big deal. There was no mention of her reluctance or regret.

After David eliminated Uriah, she married the man who gave order to kill her loyal husband. The Bible didn't say whether she was aware of David's evil plot. In any case, I don't think she cared because she was not thinking or analyzing. She was a simpleton.

Adonijah was a smart guy and knew that she was naive and approached her in 1 Kings 2

13Now Adonijah, the son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. Bathsheba asked him, “Do you come peacefully?”
He answered, “Yes, peacefully.” 14Then he added, “I have something to say to you.”
“You may say it,” she replied.
15“As you know,” he said, “the kingdom was mine. All Israel looked to me as their king.

She didn't react to Adonijah's claim "as you know" and stupidly granted Adonijah's request to ask Solomon on Adonijah's behalf.

There was no record of her making a decision on her own and she seemed to have trouble of saying no to anyone.

At best she was naive, at worst she was stupid. I think she was both.

Answer 5

Some might perceive her to be “stupid” if she ignored the King‘s command for her to come to his bed. Samuel warns the people that if they choose to have a king they would have to bow to his will and be ready to sacrifice many things. Perhaps Bathsheba knew to bow to her King’s will. David‘s predecessor was not a kind King. What happened to disloyal subjects may have warranted and justified her position to comply. Perhaps she was disturbed by Abishag’s former position? Abishag was a young woman who lay with king David to keep him warm. Abishag was another wife to Bathsheba’s husband. Perhaps in his last days, Bathsheba was tossed to the side and Abishag alone was his companion? Jealous in design, perhaps Bathsheba’s plight was to kill many “birds” with one stone in asking her son to marry Abishag to his older brother?