ADONĪA (Hebr. 'adonijāh[ā], “my Lord is Jahweh”). - Fourth son of David (and of Haggith), born at Hebron after David had been proclaimed king of Judah (II Sam. 3, 4; I Par. 3, 2).
Since David was now old, A., about 48 years of age, handsome and vain, attempted to secure his father’s throne, to which he believed himself entitled after the death of Absalom. He was supported by Joab and Abiathar, the former once commander of David’s army and the latter high priest, both having fallen from the king’s favour. He was already about to be proclaimed king with the customary religious rite at the fountain of Rogel, when Bethsabea, desirous of having her son Salomone elevated, revealed the plan to the king. The prophet Nathan confirmed David in his intention of having Salomone immediately anointed as his successor. On hearing the acclamations for the consecration of the young Salomone at the fountain of Gihon by the high priest Sadoe, A., dismayed, fled and clung to the horns of the altar as a place of asylum (I Reg. 1, 5-53). He begged for and obtained his life from the new king; but, after David’s death, following his Abisag (v.), the king’s last concubine, Salomone, suspecting hidden aspirations to the throne in his elder brother, at once had him put to death (I Reg. 2, 13-25).