The Shunammites

In 1 Kings 1, King David had become very old, and apparently developed circulatory problems. That is speculation, of course, but I think that it’s a fair guess, based on what the Scriptures say. He had trouble staying warm. They tried putting more clothes on him, but he just stayed cold. It doesn’t specifically say, but I suspect that they also tried putting his bed closer to the fire, and having one or more of his many wives get into bed with him (although they were getting along in years, too, and may have had a hard time generating any real body heat of their own). Eventually they hit upon the plan of finding an attractive young woman, and putting her in the King’s bed.

The woman that they picked was Abishag the Shunammite. It says that she lay with him, and ministered to him, but he knew her not. The first time that I read that, I was a little young to be reading such things, and I was under the impression that he was so far gone that he was completely unaware that she was in the bed with him. Having a better understanding now of what the term “knew” meant in the Bible, reinforces my belief that David had circulatory problems. In any case, it solved the problem. I guess you could say that the king warmed up to her.

Interestingly enough, the term Shunammite was not used in the Bible prior to the reference to Abishag. The only other person referred to as a Shunammite was a woman who ministered to Elisha in 2 Kings 4. She was nice to Elisha, and eventually told him that she desired a son. Elisha interceded with God for her, and she had a son. Later, the son died, and she went back to Elisha, and he revived the son. 2 Kings 4 also says that she lived in the city of Shunem. I’m not sure why a resident of the city of Shunem would be referred to as a Shunammite, rather than a Shunemmite, but, stranger things have happened. Shunem is also mentioned as being one of the borders of the land allocated to Issachar in Joshua 19:18. Apparently Abishag, and the unnamed woman in 2 Kings, were both of the tribe of Issachar. I’m not sure what the term would be for a descendent of Issachar, but I suspect that Shunammite is easier to pronounce.

After David’s death, King Solomon’s half-brother, Adonijah went to Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, and asked her to intercede with Solomon for him, that Solomon would allow him to have Abishag. Adonijah had already tried to do an end-run around David’s wishes and have himself made king instead of Solomon, but Solomon had decided to let that go. Solomon apparently felt that he was king, and Adonijah was not in a good position to depose him, so, as long as Adonijah behaved himself, the King could afford to let Adonijah live in peace. When Bathsheba approached Solomon about Abishag, though, Solomon knew exactly what was going on, and was incensed that Adonijah not only would covet his father’s concubine, but that he didn’t even have the intestinal fortitude to come to Solomon directly with his desire; he had to involve Solomon’s mother. Solomon had Adonijah put to death. That may seem a little harsh, but the reality is that Solomon had every right to have Adonijah put to death, as an usurper to the throne. Solomon was mericful, and would have allowed his half-brother to live, but Adonijah just had to push just a little bit, to see what else he could get away with. I guess you could say that Adonijah lost his head over a woman (of course, his situation was hardly unique).

In any case, I think that it’s interesting that we have exactly two Shunammites in Scripture, both of them were women, and both of them had something to do with intercession. The one woman asked Elisha, the man of God, to intercede with God for her, and got what she asked for, and the other woman, Abishag, was the woman that Adonijah asked Bathsheba to intercede with the king for, and he wound up dead. I think that shows that you need to choose your intercessors wisely.