How often such ambition is accompanied by disregard of the rights of
others! What did Adonijah care for his father's dignity, or his
brother's claims? David was still on the throne, and Solomon's right
to succeed him had been authoritatively proclaimed, and yet, with
inbred selfishness, this ambitious prince declared, "_I_ will be king!"
The lawfulness of any ambition may often be tested by the amount of
selfishness which inheres in it. If desire for distinction, or wealth,
leads one to crush a competitor to the wall without ruth, or to refuse
all help to others in a struggle where every man seems to fight for his
own hand, its lawfulness may well be questioned. Our Lord taught us to
love even our enemies, and surely competitors have a still stronger
claim on our consideration, and certainly all who belong to a church
which is based on sacrifice, and symbolised by a cross, should even in
such matters deny themselves, and seek every man his neighbour's good.

All sin is the worse when it is committed, as Adonijah's was, in
defiance of warning. He deliberately repeated his brother's offence.
Yet he knew the tragic story of his death, and how his brilliant life
had been ended by violence in a wood, where he perished without a
friend; and he must often have seen his father brooding alone over the
trouble thus caused, as if he was still whispering to himself: "_O
Absalom, my son, would God I had died for thee! O Absalom, my son, my
son_!" Yet the very sin of Absalom which had been so terribly
punished, Adonijah boldly committed.

History is crowded with examples of ambitious men who died in
disappointment and despair,--Alexander, who conquered a world, and then
wept because there were no more worlds to conquer, perished in a scene
of debauchery, after setting fire to the city. Hannibal, who filled