1 Kings Profiles

ABISHAG

1 Kings 1:3-4; 2:17-24

Chosen for her youth and beauty, Abishag found herself one day the live-in nurse of the great but elderly King David. Her job was to keep the ailing king warm. Within months her patient died. We know little about their relationship (although, for those who might wonder, the writer makes it clear that they never had sexual intercourse).

Almost immediately after David’s death, Abishag became the bargaining chip in a power struggle between his sons Solomon and Adonijah. Solomon had been chosen for the throne; Adonijah had tried to usurp it. Solomon could have killed his rival, but instead said that if Adonijah proved to be loyal, he would not be harmed (1:52).

Loyalty, however, was not in Adonijah’s vocabulary. When he went to Bathsheba asking for Abishag’s hand in marriage, he had strong ulterior motives. For Adonijah, Abishag was probably little more than a possible angle to renew his claim to the throne of David. Bathsheba may have been trying to do Abishag a favor as well as to pacify Adonijah. Solomon saw through the ruse, however, and understood that Adonijah was planning to use Abishag (who had technically been a part of King David’s harem) to gain leverage in his fight for the throne. Adonijah paid for this request with his life, for he had proven that he would not be loyal to Solomon. These maneuvers revealed one clear fact: no one cared what Abishag thought. She might as well have been listed with the furniture.

Home and work are both settings in which persons are sometimes treated as objects. You may be hurt today by such treatment. Family members may withhold appreciation. Fellow workers may treat you like just another office machine. Resist these invitations to hopelessness by remembering that God knows you intimately and will always treat you as a person.

Strengths and accomplishments	Served an apparently thankless role as a king’s personal servant with grace and silence Witnessed David’s decision to pass the throne to his son Solomon
Lessons from her life	We may go unnoticed and devalued by others, but God never loses track of us We frequently know only a small part of the significance of events in our lives as they relate to God’s larger plan for the world
Vital statistics	Where: Shunem, Jerusalem Occupation: King David’s nurse and companion Contemporaries: Nathan, Bathsheba, Solomon, Adonijah
Key verse	“And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not” (1 Kings 1:4).

Abishag’s story is told in 1 Kings 1:1–4; 2:13–24.