“I have just one small request of you,” she said. “Do not deny me.” “Make your request, my mother,” the king replied, “for I will not deny you.”
Here is, I. Solomon's accession to the throne, Kg1 2:12. He came to it much more easily and peaceably than David did, and much sooner saw his government established. It is happy for a kingdom when the end of one good reign is the beginning of another, as it was here. II. His just and necessary removal of Adonijah his rival, in order to the establishment of his throne.
Commenting on 1 Kings 2:12-25
Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee,.... It was but one, and a little one, and therefore she hoped it would be granted: I pray thee, say me not nay; do not refuse it, or deny it me, or turn away my thee with shame and disappointment: and the king said, ask on, my mother, for I will not say thee nay...
1Ki 2:20-22 To her request, “Let Abishag of Shunem be given to Adonijah thy brother for a wife” (את יתּן, cf. Ges. §§143, 1, a.), which she regarded in her womanly simplicity as a very small one (קטנּה), he replied with indignation, detecting at once the intrigues of Adonijah: “And why dost thou ask Abishag of Shunem for Adonijah?
Commenting on 1 Kings 2:20-22