The Throne Almost Stolen
A complete chapter from the book, exactly as a reader gets it: the modern mirror, the passage, the parallel, and one move. About a five-minute read.
A plan can look secure while the people affected stay in the dark. Exposure reveals what was holding it up.
The Modern Mirror
On an October morning in 2010, the phone rang while the CEO of Hermès, the family-owned company behind the Birkin bag, was cycling in the Alps. He learned that a rival had quietly built a stake of more than 14 percent in the business his family had spent generations building. He had about two hours before the news became public. The family had barely seen it coming.
Starting in 2001, then moving more aggressively in the years before that call, Bernard Arnault and LVMH had been building a position in Hermès. LVMH is the luxury company behind Louis Vuitton, Moët Hennessy, and dozens of other brands. Buying the shares directly would have made the growing position visible sooner. Instead, LVMH used contracts called equity swaps. The swaps gave it the financial upside of the stock without immediately showing its name as the owner on public filings. On paper, LVMH appeared to own almost nothing. Behind that appearance, it was building a major stake in a company the Hermès family had never put up for sale.
Once the family saw what had happened, it locked just over half its shares into one holding company, making a full takeover far harder. French regulators opened an investigation. LVMH maintained that it had made a legitimate investment and used a normal financial tool, not disguised a takeover. But in 2013, France's market regulator fined the company eight million euros for concealing how it had built the position. By then, LVMH's stake had reached roughly 23 percent.
In late 2014, LVMH agreed to give up the holding by distributing the shares to its own shareholders. Arnault never faced criminal charges. The move had built a large position and caught the Hermès family off guard. (To dig deeper, search: LVMH Hermès equity swap)
The Religious Root (1 Kings 1)
Thousands of years before any equity swap, a quieter grab was already under way beside a dying king's bed. David is old and failing. His son Adonijah does not wait for his father's death, blessing, or public decision. "Now Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, 'I will be king.' And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him" (1 Kings 1:5). He holds a coronation feast at En-rogel, complete with sacrifices. He invites his brothers, Joab the army commander, and Abiathar the priest. He does not invite Solomon, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, or David's mighty men.
Adonijah's claim looked plausible enough to attract powerful people, and the chapter does not show David publicly announcing Solomon as king before the feast. But Scripture does not ask us to guess what Adonijah felt entitled to. It shows us what he did. He gathered the people most likely to support him and left out the people most likely to object. Before anyone names the move as loyal or treacherous, the guest list has already exposed how it works.
David is still alive. Adonijah assembles chariots and stages a feast, sacrifices, and the cheering of a coronation before the king has publicly handed him anything. The spectacle creates momentum while David and Solomon's supporters remain outside it. It looks settled because the people inside have agreed to act as if it is.
Nathan and Bathsheba go to David and remind him of the oath he had sworn concerning Solomon. David acts immediately. Solomon is anointed that same day, placed on the king's own mule, and escorted to Gihon with trumpets and shouting. The noise reaches Adonijah's feast across the valley. His guests realize that David has publicly named Solomon, and they scatter.
This keeps the brothers from becoming simple mirror images. Adonijah declares himself king and builds a ceremony around that declaration. Solomon receives the throne after David publicly confirms the oath he had already sworn. Adonijah runs to the altar and begs for his life. Solomon spares him, for now, and on a condition.
The Parallel Unpacked
These stories are not identical. Adonijah declared himself king while his father was still alive, then filled the room with people willing to treat the declaration as real. LVMH built a minority stake through financial contracts that regulators later said concealed how the position was forming. LVMH maintained that it was making a legitimate investment, not staging a takeover. Adonijah's bid ended when David publicly named Solomon. LVMH gave up the holding after the Hermès family defended its shares, regulators acted, and the companies reached an agreement. Flattening those differences would make the parallel sound cleaner than it is.
The real connection is narrower and stronger: selective visibility let both moves advance before likely resistance could organize. Adonijah left the likely objectors outside his feast. LVMH's method kept the scale of its position from appearing in the ordinary way until the stake was already large. In both stories, the strategy looked more secure than it was because the people able to resist did not yet have the whole picture.
Put the stories together and the warning becomes clearer. Time can make a hidden strategy look established without making it durable. Adonijah had chariots, guests, sacrifices, and a celebration. LVMH had spent years assembling a major stake. Then the people left without the full picture saw what was happening and acted. A plan can gather impressive momentum and still remain fragile if its success depends on the right people seeing too little, too late.
Your Move
Picture opening the grade for a group project and realizing the teacher thinks you did work your teammate actually carried. You did not tell a direct lie. You just stayed quiet because the mistake helped you. Or picture telling one side of a conflict while leaving out the detail that would make your friend see the other person differently. Ask yourself: Would I still make this move if everyone affected could see exactly how I made it?
This is not a rule against privacy. You are allowed to keep a gift a surprise, keep someone's confidence when no one is being put at risk, or work on something before announcing it. The warning sign is different: the plan gives you an unfair advantage while someone else is missing information that would change their decision.
If one situation comes to mind, correct that picture today. Tell the teacher who did the work. Give your friend the missing detail. Tell the person making the decision what your silence allowed them to assume. Use one clean sentence. Do not perform your guilt; repair the advantage.
For the next seven days, notice when you think, "As long as no one finds out." Stop before the next move and name the truth you are counting on staying buried. A strategy that depends on people seeing too little is not strong. Bring it into daylight or stop building it.
From Roots & Mirrors: The Resistance by Elias Phillips. Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
There are 47 more where this came from.
Every chapter of The Resistance works this way: the passage told straight, a modern story you can check, and one move before the day ends. Teaching a group? Chapter 9, The Slow Drift, is free start to finish.