You might be surprised how many times knowing the Bible can point to an example shedding relevant light on a modern situation. In this case, King Soloman faced a situation not unlike our news cycle.
OK kids, show of hands — without looking it up, who recognizes the name ‘Abishag’? Yes, I see that lone hand in the back.
Seriously, Abishag was almost a ‘throwaway’ reference in the storyline of history, but she played an important role in the succession of kings after David succumbed to old age. And the role she played connects directly to the drama we’re seeing play out with the contested General Election results between Trump and Biden.
First, a quick review of what was going on in history at the time.
King David had a long and very successful reign as king. But the stated divine consequence for adultery with Bathsheba and murdering her husband to cover it up was that strife would not leave his house.
The strife he eventually dealt with included one of his sons launching an uprising against him. The public show of his claim to the throne included having sex with David’s own concubines on the rooftop of the palace.
Long story short: the rebellion was crushed, the rebel son was killed by one of David’s generals, and David returned to the throne. (see: 2 Sam 15-16)
Fast forward a few years. David’s virile years are now behind him, and his body is beginning to betray him. He’s got what we would describe as circulation problems and can’t stay warm.
His solution? Find someone warm to share a bed with him. The relationship wasn’t sexual in nature, she was literally there to keep him from getting cold at night. The person he chose was Abishag.(1 Kings 1)
Skip ahead a little further, when it is nearly time for David’s heir to ascend to the throne. David has specifically named Solomon his successor, but that didn’t stop an abortive attempt by one faction supporting a challenger from declaring that this OTHER son was king. That other son’s name was Adonijah. (1 Kings 1)
David got out ahead of that plot, declaring Solomon to be heir to the throne so that the people didn’t line up behind Adonijah contrary to the promise of God. But eventually, death came for David.
With David out of the way and Solomon on the throne, Adonijah hadn’t given up his ambitions. Rather than approaching Solomon directly, he approached his half-brother’s mom requesting a favor in the following exchange (1Kings2):
Now Adonijah, the son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. Bathsheba asked him, “Do you come peacefully?”
He answered, “Yes, peacefully.” Then he added, “I have something to say to you.”
“You may say it,” she replied.
“As you know,” he said, “the kingdom was mine. All Israel looked to me as their king. But things changed, and the kingdom has gone to my brother; for it has come to him from the Lord. Now I have one request to make of you. Do not refuse me.”
“You may make it,” she said.
So he continued, “Please ask King Solomon—he will not refuse you—to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”
“Very well,” Bathsheba replied, “I will speak to the king for you.”
When Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, the king stood up to meet her, bowed down to her and sat down on his throne. He had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat down at his right hand.
“I have one small request to make of you,” she said. “Do not refuse me.”
The king replied, “Make it, my mother; I will not refuse you.”
So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given in marriage to your brother Adonijah.”
King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? You might as well request the kingdom for him—after all, he is my older brother—yes, for him and for Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah!”
Then King Solomon swore by the Lord: “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if Adonijah does not pay with his life for this request! And now, as surely as the Lord lives—he who has established me securely on the throne of my father David and has founded a dynasty for me as he promised—Adonijah shall be put to death today!” So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck down Adonijah and he died. –1Kings2:13-25
What the hell does this story have to do with an election 3000 years later and halfway around the planet?
Simple.
Adonijah, like Absolom before him, tried to capture the strength of public opinion to establish his claim on ascending to the throne, whether it was his by right or not.
In America, we have a process for deciding who has legitimately ascended to the Office of the President.
That process is not decided by newspapers, TV studios, or some elaborate ‘decision desk’. It is not decided by a consensus of public officials announcing they have won.
It is decided, ultimately, when each State, having satisfied any issues relating to contested counts certifies their vote until one candidate has captured the Electoral College.
In the unlikely event that no decision is possible, there are several other steps in place to resolve a contested result. Those steps have been used in the past, when necessary.
We are not yet in anything remotely resembling ‘Constitutional Crisis’, and won’t be unless investigations into the election turn up evidence that specific races are both corrupted, and irretrievably tainted.
But you would never know this by the way news agencies, Big Tech, and Democrat activists (but I repeat myself) are tripping over themselves to both declare Biden the winner, and discredit any aspect of the Constitutional due process of which Trump is making good use.
Their use of the label ‘President-elect’ is exactly parallel to the two claims on the throne we see with Abishag or the concubines in David’s day.
Rather than wait for the ‘successor’ to the 2016-2020 term to be named (whichever of the two candidates may eventually win out) Biden supporters are getting out ahead of the orderly result so that the narrative and public sentiment will be that the election was ‘overturned’ if evidence for judicial rulings favor Trump.
Judges are human too, taking a win AWAY from a WINNER is a very different thing, psychologically than making a decision between two hopeful candidates.
This is by design.
