If there is an excessive desire within us to achieve our ambitions ...

Adonijah, who exalted himself (1 Kings 1:5) with ambition to become king of Israel,

after hearing Solomon's kingship as God's will (2:15) from Solomon's mother Bathsheba,

requested her to arrange for him to marry Abishag, the Shunammite woman, as his wife (vv. 16-17).

Here, "Abishag, the Shunammite woman," was a woman whom King David's servants found

to keep the aging King David warm in bed when he was old and cold,

even though he did not have sexual relations with her (1:1-4).

However, Adonijah wanted to marry the woman

who had cared for his father, King David, during his old age.

When I meditate on this passage, I am reminded of Reuben, Jacob's firstborn son,

who had sexual relations with Bilhah, his father Jacob's concubine (Genesis 35:22).

So, when Jacob called his sons and spoke about Reuben, his firstborn,

he said, 'You went up to your father’s bed; you defiled it.

You went up to my couch and dishonored it' (49:4).

I believe that like Reuben, David's son Adonijah also wanted to dishonor his father

by wanting to marry Abishag, the Shunammite woman.

Adonijah, who harbored ambition and desired to exalt himself

to become the king of Israel, saw his plan to be king fail.

As a result, he now sought to marry even his father David's concubine.

If there is an excessive desire within us to achieve our ambitions,

we may end up making reckless plans and attempting reckless actions,

ultimately facing the consequences of those ambitions.